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UK Ambassador named chair of Security Council committee on terrorism

UK Ambassador named chair of Security Council committee on terrorism

Amb. Greenstock speaking to the press
The chief British diplomat at the United Nations was named today chairman of the Security Council committee on terrorism, a body set up late last week to monitor the implementation of a range of measures designed to combat the scourge.

The announcement that Sir Jeremy Greenstock would chair the committee was made by the current President of the Security Council following closed-door consultations this morning.

Ambassador Richard Ryan

Speaking to reporters, Council President Richard Ryan of Ireland also named three diplomats chosen as vice-chairmen of the committee: Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia, Ambassador Jugdish Koonjul of Mauritius and Ambassador Sergey Lavrov of the Russian Federation.

On the subject of Afghanistan, Ambassador Ryan said Council members "warmly welcomed" the recent decision by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to appoint Lakhdar Brahimi as his Special Representative for the country. "His appointment should provide a powerful injection to United Nations efforts to resolve the crisis in Afghanistan," said the President, adding that the members looked forward to meeting with him at the earliest opportunity.

The new committee on terrorism will monitor implementation of the recent Council resolution 1373, which bans all forms of support for terrorism and compels States to cooperate in rooting out the terrorist threat. In adopting that text on Friday, 28 September, the Council invoked Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows for the use of force.

Saying he was "very pleased" to take on the chairmanship, Ambassador Greenstock told reporters that the committee would begin work today. "It is the responsibility of the terrorism committee to liase with Member States on the mandatory action that they will take under 1373 to carry out the requirements of that resolution," he said. "We will be working very closely with the Secretary-General, with the Secretariat and with a certain amount of outside expertise in that business."

Ambassador Greenstock said the panel would submit its work programme to the Council within the next two or three weeks. "You can be sure that the terrorism committee will be dealing in their work with terrorism as we all see it and the committee will work by consensus," he said.