(New report says al-Qaeda still a "significant threat") (1100)
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- Reporting a number of marked successes in the fight
against the al-Qaeda network in the past months, members of the
Security Council's Committee on al-Qaeda Sanctions nevertheless warned
June 26 that the terrorist organization and its associated groups
"still pose a significant threat to international peace and security."

Discussing the committee's first report to the Security Council,
Ambassador Heraldo Munoz of Chile said that, ironically, the success
of the measures against the Taliban and al-Qaeda have closed some
financial operations but "our progress has yielded new ways in which
the groups are operating."

"I would like to emphasize this is a long-term task. This is not going
to be achieved merely through a couple of reports in a couple of
years," said Munoz, who is the chairman of the Security Council
Committee on al-Qaeda Sanctions.

Michael Chandler, chairman of the committee's monitoring group, said
that "further success in bringing down the al-Qaeda network will
require a sustained international effort with continued and probably
enhanced, sharing of information, and coordination between member
states."

"This is not something any one country is going to do on its own. It's
got to be teamwork -- international teamwork. And its working," he
said.

Chandler said that the arrests of members of Osama bin Laden's
original "command team," including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Yasir
al-Jaziri, Waleed bin Attash and other senior lieutenants, dented its
operational capacity significantly and provided critical intelligence
concerning the network.

"It has led to the break-up of cells in a number of countries and the
detention of substantial numbers of the network's supporters and
operatives. However ... recent events have demonstrated with the
bombings in Saudi Arabia, Chechnya, Morocco, and Afghanistan that
al-Qaeda and its associated groups still pose a significant threat to
international peace and security," Chandler said.

"The network continues to recruit new adherents, receive funds,
explosives and arms, and is able to have some of its people ... appear
to be able to move around to do what they want to do," he said.

"The success of clamping down on the formal banking system has driven
the terrorist groups ... to use other information means," Chandler
said. "We found that many of the cells that were broken up in Europe
were actually self-sufficient in many ways. They were able to survive
and able to raise quite considerable sums of cash purely by petty
street crime, small drug sales, credit card fraud, and other similar
scams which are quite common."

"These are the facts we have to face: The network clearly retains
strong appeal among Islamic extremist elements around the world and is
able to draw on a substantial cadre of people who were probably
trained in Afghanistan or in other centers associated in the past with
the network," Chandler said.

Chandler also said that the name of a Chechen rebel is being added to
the sanctions list and there is evidence that the Chechen rebels may
be linked to the al-Qaeda network.

"They have links with people who have worked through Bosnia into
Chechnya," Chandler said. "There are certain aspects of the way they
operate -- the Chechen rebel movement -- that is very, very similar to
the way al-Qaeda operates with suicide bombings and ... the hostage
attempt at the theater" in Russia.

Pointing out that the list "is only a small subset of the critical
membership of the al-Qaeda network," Chandler said that the committee
believes that the list "should be expanded to take in a much broader
set of al-Qaeda members and associates and those who have supported
them, particularly people who are known to some countries to have been
to Afghanistan, come back, and are let loose back into society."

In its report, the committee said that there should be as complete a
catalogue as possible of persons believed to be members of al-Qaeda
cells or to have participated in training in Afghanistan or other
camps associated with the network, as well as all known members of
al-Qaeda and its associated groups.

"We must internationally redouble our efforts to assure that al-Qaeda
and its associates do not acquire nuclear, radiological, chemical or
biological weapons or materials," Chandler added.

Munoz called on all nations to submit their reports to the committee.

"Only 56 member states have submitted reports complying with
resolution 1455 out of 190-some member states. This is still a long
road ahead of us in order to receive all the information we need from
member states," he said.

Chandler emphasized that is it important that the list is accurate and
full of all data possible "so agencies around the world, whether its
law enforcement, financial banking or even the most vulnerable -- the
border officials, have accurate, good information."

"Every member state should be looking at the list on a regular basis,"
he said.

In its report, the committee said that the principal value of the
travel ban on Taliban and al-Qaeda members is as a "political
statement intended to make it clear to countries that they should not
permit Taliban, al-Qaeda or associated group members to gather, seek
refugee in, or transit through their territories."

"As a practical matter, few, if any, of the designated al-Qaeda
members are likely to seek open entry or transit using their own name
and legitimate documents," the report said. Nevertheless, al-Qaeda
members have retained a high degree of mobility and have been able to
initiate terrorist attacks in several countries around the world.

Another problem identified in the report is the use of charities to
provide support to the al-Qaeda network through cash with the
expenditure supported with false documents. In addition, over the last
decade so-called charitable activities have given rise to an
increasingly active program of indoctrination, recruitment, and
training in support of al-Qaeda and related terrorist groups.

In most of the world, charities remain unregulated and there is still
a strong desire in many countries to protect the identity of donors.
But this provides a permissive environment in which al-Qaeda and
associated groups are able to access funds and resources, the report
said.

"Cracking down on these activities will require a sustained
international effort and an increased willingness to share
information. Cooperative intelligence and law enforcement work are
vital in this effort," the report said.