UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- A U.N. Security Council panel said Tuesday that while strides have been made in reducing the capability of the al Qaida terrorist network, "an insidious movement," it still remains a significant global threat.
Under a resolution adopted in January, the council moved to tighten measures against al Qaida's Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and other entities by setting up a Monitoring Group.
"Collectively, the countries of the world have made great strides in combating al Qaida," said Michael Chandler, chairman of the Monitoring Group established by the council to track the implementation of such measures as a freezing of assets, a travel ban and an arms embargo.
"Important progress has been made in identifying and breaking up al Qaida cells and arresting al Qaida members or some of their associates, and there also has been progress in disrupting al Qaida's finances and tracing transactions supporting the network," he told reporters. "However, a large number of al Qaida operatives and others trained by al Qaida who remain at large, new adherents, continue to join their ranks, and it continues to develop alliances with national or regional extremist groups bent on using terror as a means to their objectives.
"I think it is clear to all of us and confirmed regrettably by recent events that the al Qaida network remains a significant threat globally to peace and security," Chandler told reporters.
"Al Qaida is an insidious movement. No countries or group of countries can handle this problem alone. Without broad information sharing, police investigative cooperation and the application of international systemwide financial controls, al Qaida will continue to be able to resist, recruit and rearm."
The group recommended the council quickly issue its list of individuals and entities associated with bin Laden, al Qaida and the Taliban in a revised format, and that updated versions of the roster be sent to all U.N. members.
The panel also suggested that countries set up appropriate regulatory authorities to oversee charities and non-governmental organizations and advised the council to consider all individuals designated on the list al Qaida terrorists or suspected terrorists so that member states can detain, prosecute or extradite them to countries where they were wanted.
Countries should be encouraged to become party to international treaties dealing with plastic explosives and terrorist bombings, the 32-page report said.
Chandler told reporters that the key to international cooperation was the U.N. Consolidated List, which was meant to be a full catalogue of persons and entities that comprised al Qaida or were associated with it. But, he said, the list continued to reflect a small subset of those persons who had been identified as members or known to different countries as perhaps being linked in some way.
