UN panel finishes:
Taliban, al Qaeda blacklist review
UN: A Security Council committee has deleted 45 entries from its
Taliban-al Qaeda blacklist, a move sought by Afghanistan to ease
negotiations with insurgents, Austria’s U.N. envoy said on Monday.
The Security Council’s Taliban-al Qaeda sanctions committee, which
was established in 1999 by resolution 1267, began reviewing each of the
488 individuals and entities on the list two years ago amid criticism
that some of those under sanctions were either dead or should never have
been listed.
The result of the review was the decision to delete nearly 10 percent
of the individuals and entities facing a global asset freeze, travel ban
and arms embargo, the committee’s chairman, Ambassador Thomas
Mayr-Harting, told reporters.
Of those removed from the list, Mayr-Harting said, 10 were Taliban
militants and 35 related to al Qaeda — 14 individuals and 21 firms,
foundations and other organizations.
Afghanistan had pressed the sanctions committee to remove some
Taliban names from the blacklist to create an incentive for insurgents
to join the government. A recent “Peace Jirga” in Afghanistan
recommended talks with moderate Taliban leaders and other militants to
end an intensifying nine-year war.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai sought the delisting of some 20
Taliban, because they had either joined the government side or were
dead. But Russia, which sits on the committee along with the other 14
Security Council members, had been cautious about deleting names, U.N.
diplomats said. Russia is concerned about Islamic fundamentalism and
Taliban-linked drug-trafficking in its region, they said.
Of the 20 Taliban Karzai wanted delisted, five were removed in
January and another five last week. It was not immediately clear if the
Afghan government was satisfied, since Kabul has yet to react to
Friday’s delistings.
Mayr-Harting said most of the other 10 Taliban whom Karzai wanted
delisted would remain under sanctions. A Security Council diplomat said
two Taliban cases were pending and might come off the blacklist at some
point in the future.
Seven of the firms removed from the al Qaeda blacklist were companies
in the United States and Sweden named Barakaat, such as the al-Barakaat
Wiring Service in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Another delisted al Qaeda entity was the Somali International Relief
Organization, also in Minneapolis. Eight of the individuals taken off
the blacklist were dead. There are still some 30 deceased persons on the
list.
He said living individuals must prove they have renounced violence
and laid down their weapons, accepted the Afghan constitution and
severed all ties with extremist groups.
The review confirmed 132 Taliban and 311 al Qaeda entries on the list
— 443 in all — though some 66 cases are still pending and could possibly
be deleted, he said. He indicated the number of future delistings would
likely be small.
“It would not be realistic to expect big moves on the list,”
Mayr-Harting said. New York, Reuters
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