Posted on 01/22/2003 8:59:25 AM PST by RCW2001
| Wednesday, 22-Jan-2003 12:20AM | Story from AFP / Robert Holloway Copyright 2003 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet) |
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 21 (AFP) - The United Nations panel monitoring sanctions against Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network has no evidence of links between the terrorist group and Iraq, group chairman Michael Chandler said Tuesday.
"We don't have anything yet, and no-one has been able to produce anything," he told AFP in an interview.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair told a parliamentary hearing in London on Tuesday that "there is some intelligence evidence about linkages between members of al-Qaeda and people in Iraq." He did not identify the individuals.
Speaking a day after seven people were arrested in a dramatic police raid on a mosque in north London, Blair said it was "inevitable" that terrorists would try to target Britain.
But he said he was unaware of any evidence that "directly links" al-Qaeda, Iraq and "terrorist activities" in Britain.
Chandler, who described al-Qaeda in a report to the UN Security Council as "a substantial threat, globally, to peace and security," said it was not obviously "in either side's interests to be linked at this stage."
He noted that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein runs what is "still quite a secular country" distinct from the Islamic regime of bin Laden's ambitions, and added: "Saddam doesn't want a caliphate; he wants to be in charge."
Chandler chaired a panel of five set up in January last year to monitor the enforcement of sanctions originally imposed in 1999 on al-Qaeda and the Taliban regime then in power and harbouring it in Afghanistan.
The Security Council renewed the sanctions -- an arms embargo, a financial assets freeze and travel ban -- in a resolution Friday which asked UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to re-appoint the panel.
It also asked governments to update reports on steps they had taken to enforce sanctions.
Chandler said only 79 of the 191 UN member states had responded to a similar request made a year ago, but added: "I would be reluctant to say any country is reluctant to cooperate; that is not what we are seeing."
Many countries had problems incorporating the necessary measures into their own constitutions and legal frameworks, he said.
He noted that it was difficult to impose a travel ban inside the 15-nation Schengen area, which has effectively abolished border controls throughout the continental states of the European Union, Norway and Iceland.
The restrictions apply, not only to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, but also to 104 people on a list compiled by the Security Council. Suspects are listed at the request of governments if no other government objects.
"Nobody who is on the list has actually been stopped from trying to enter a country," Chandler said. "That shows one of two things: either they are clever enough not to try, or the system isn't working."
He also noted that some suspects appeared on wanted lists around the world, but governments had not had them listed. They included four people sought by the FBI.
"We don't understand why. We have asked the question twice," he said.
Asked to assess al-Qaeda's strength and resources, Chandler replied:
"It's quite difficult to get a handle on a lot of things to do with al-Qaeda because of the way it has been able to disperse and perpetuate itself" since the massive US military assault which toppled the Taliban regime.
Governments were thought to have frozen 130-140 million dollars worth of assets, but few were willing to identify the owners of the bank accounts, he said.
"The amount of money needed for an attack is comparatively small," he said.
"Some people have put a figure of 74,000 dollars" on the twin bombings which killed 190 people in nightclubs on the Indonesian island of Bali on October 12, he said.
But, he went on, "I don't think anybody actually knows" how much money the network had.
Before it was routed in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda "was a kind of Holy War Inc., with managerial departments and people who could provide support, direction and possibly even finance down the chain of command," Chandler said.
The fact that it had managed to diversify showed "the extent to which feeling for this organisation has spread around the world," he said.
Al-Qaeda cells were being broken up in Europe, but there was a danger of new cells being formed to replace them.
"It is clearly much more difficult for them to operate than it was, but that does not mean we should be complacent," he said.
"Nor should we underestimate their ability to do something unpleasant. It has been too quiet for too long."
rh/mk
Iraq-UN-Qaeda
7 Jun Ten People Arrested in Milan for Supporting Al Qaida
http://www.eitb24.com/new/en/B24_52122/world-news/AL-QAIDA-10-people-arrested-in-Milan-for-supporting-Al-Qaida/
Police in Milan on Thursday arrested a group of people who allegedly provided logistical and financial support to the al-Qaida-linked Salafist Group for Call and Combat, Italian officials said.
About 10 people had been arrested, according to a police statement, but officials said the operation in the northern Italian city was still ongoing and it was not yet known how many suspects had been taken into custody...
7 Jun London Link to Italian al-Qaeda Raid
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1898631.ece
...[i]n a statement, the Metropolitan Police said that from 1997 to 1999, Mr Ignaoua “convinced and organised volunteers to undergo military training in Afghanistan for Jihad with the use of false documentation”.
His arrest was co-ordinated with the Italian police, which this morning carried out simultaneous raids in Milan against a suspected al-Qaeda cell. Italian detectives said they are holding nine terror suspects, all of them Tunisians, who are believed to be members of the North African regional branch of Osama bin Laden’s extremist network...
7 Jun U.S. Forces Kill Two Al Qaida in Raid
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_21285044.shtml
U.S. forces in Iraq killed two members of al-Qaida and detained 10 others Wednesday during raids targeting a bomb-making operation in Baghdad...
7 Jun Pentagon Says Al Qaeda Leader Captured in East Africa
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-terrorjun07,1,2044582.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
...[h]e was identified as Abdullahi Sudi Arale.
“We believe him to be an extremely dangerous member of the Al Qaeda network,” said Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman.
Whitman said Arale was suspected of acting as a courier between Al Qaeda in East Africa and Al Qaeda in Pakistan and helping the Africans get weapons and explosives...
7 Jun Saudi Arrests 11 Al Qaeda Members
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/06/07/saudi.arrest/
Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry announced Thursday it had arrested 11 al Qaeda members in the span of 48 hours who were responsible for financing and encouraging terrorism. A ministry statement quoting a senior ministry official said the detainees were wanted terrorists in Saudi Arabia, that their assets have been frozen and an investigation into the incident is ongoing. On Tuesday the ministry announced it had arrested three senior al Qaeda members responsible for recruiting youths via the internet and encouraging attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities...
7 Jun Iraqi Police Capture Local Al Qaida Leader North of Baghdad
http://english.people.com.cn/200706/07/eng20070607_381934.html
Iraqi security forces captured the local leader of the al-Qaida in Iraq in eastern Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, and wounded four of his guards early on Wednesday, a provincial police said on Thursday...
Iraqi security forces have been tipped off by residents of Albu Ajil suburb, 5 km to the east of Tikrit, the source said...
6 Jun U.S. Forces Kill Al Qaeda Leader in Baghdad
http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2007/06/06/afx3794120.html
...’Yesterday, coalition forces killed a terrorist leader and detained three other suspected terrorists during an operation here in Baghdad to disrupt another network bombing there,’ [BG Bergner] said.
‘Mohammed Mahmud ‘Abd Kadhim Hussein al-Mashadani, also known as Abu Abdullah, was the terrorist killed during the operation,’ ...
...[t]he death is the third reported killing of an Al-Qaeda street captain since last week, when some Sunni nationalist insurgents once opposed to the US military fell out with Al-Qaeda’s Islamist extremists and changed sides.
6 Jun Suspected Al Qaeda Leader, 17 Others Detained
http://www.blackanthem.com/News/Allies_20/Suspected_al-Qaeda_leader_17_others_detained7317.shtml
...[n]orth of Taji, Coalition Forces captured an alleged key leader in the Rusafa vehicle-borne improvised explosive device network. Coalition Forces also detained another suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist on the scene.
Based on information from a suspected terrorist detained May 29, Coalition Forces captured an alleged al-Qaeda facility manager who operates a safe house southwest of Tarmiyah.
In Mosul, Coalition Forces raided two buildings and detained two suspected terrorists, one of whom is allegedly the assistant to a senior terrorist leader captured May 29...
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