Two groups added to Security Council list of Al-Qaida operatives under sanction

Two more groups have been added to the United Nations Security Council’s list of entities subject to sanctions against Al-Qaida and Taliban operatives.

A Council committee set up to monitor the sanctions – which were originally adopted, and later tightened, in response to the indictment of Usama bin Laden for the 1998 terrorist bombings of United States embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam – announced yesterday that it has added the Tunisian Combatant Group and the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group to its consolidated list.

The measures require States to freeze financial resources, including funds derived or generated by any undertaking owned or controlled by the Taliban, and to ensure that they are not used by the group. Countries are also obliged to freeze funds and other financial assets of Usama bin Laden and his associates in the Al-Qaida organization, and to prevent their entry or transit through the State's territory. In addition, nations must prevent the supply, sale and transfer of all arms and materiel – along with any form of military training – to the named individuals and entities.