Ban Ki-moon selects two new experts for Taliban sanctions monitoring group

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has informed the Security Council of his decision to appoint two new members of the monitoring group established in 2004 to help track the application of United Nations sanctions against the Taliban, Al-Qaida and their operatives.

Saudi Arabia’s Mubarak Mashhoor al-Shahrani and Carlton Greene of the United States, whose appointments are detailed in a document released today at UN Headquarters in New York, are to serve as experts on the monitoring team until 30 June next year.

The Analytical Supports and Sanctions Monitoring Team was set up to work at the direction of the existing UN committee dealing with sanctions against the Taliban and Al-Qaida, and reports periodically to the Security Council on its work.

The new members replace Egypt’s Ashraf Mohsen and John Smith of the US, who resigned from the team in November last year and last month respectively.

The sanctions were originally adopted, and later tightened, in response to the indictment of Usama bin Laden for the 1998 terrorist bombings of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam.

States are required to freeze financial assets, including property as well as 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, property 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.

The monitoring team will help countries increase their capacity to implement the sanctions against the Taliban and Al-Qaida, and is also mandated to collate, assess, verify wherever possible, report and make recommendations on information regarding violations of the sanctions.