U.N. Council OKs Terror Resolution
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By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a U.S.-sponsored resolution Friday night demanding that all countries immediately take sweeping measures to crack down on terrorism.
Responding to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the council set out a new set of requirements that every nation must meet to cut off funding and support for terrorist activities and improve the exchange of information about terrorist networks.
To ensure that all countries adopt the strongly worded measure, the council created a Security Council committee to monitor their efforts.
``This is an unprecedented resolution against terrorism in the work of the United Nations (news - web sites),'' said U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte. ``We're very encouraged by the Security Council's strong support for this measure and the rapid and unanimous action it has taken.''
The resolution moved from start to finish in the frequently plodding Security Council in just over 24 hours, a pace that reflects Washington's wide support as it leads the global campaign to track down the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks and those who harbored them.
While the resolution stops short of threatening sanctions against those countries that fail to abide by the anti-terrorism measures, it does express the council's determination ``to take all necessary steps to ensure the full implementation.''
Under the resolution, all countries must make the ``willful'' financing and funding of terrorism a criminal offense, immediately freeze terrorist-related funds, and prevent movement of individuals and groups suspected of terrorist connections.
Every nation must also stop all forms of support to people or groups involved in terrorist acts and deny them ``safe haven.'' The recruitment and supply of weapons to terrorist members and groups must end, and all countries must accelerate the exchange of operational information, especially regarding actions or movements of terrorists and terrorist networks.
``Tonight probably the Security Council made history,'' said France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, the current council president. ``Tonight we have adopted a very ambitious, comprehensive strategy to fight terrorism in all its forms throughout the world.''
Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia, an elected council member, said ``this is the first Security Council resolution dealing with a conflict that does not name a single country, society, or group of people.''
The resolution incorporates actions to fight terrorism from a dozen legal instruments approved by the General Assembly since 1963.
Only five of the conventions and protocols have been ratified by more than 100 countries and the newest - to cut off the financing of terrorism - hasn't yet taken effect because it doesn't have enough ratifications.
But diplomats said that by incorporating the key actions in a legally binding Security Council resolution, all countries are now required to immediately implement them.
The Security Council and the General Assembly adopted resolutions immediately after the attacks condemning the atrocities and calling for the perpetrators and those who harbor them to be brought to justice.
The resolution adopted Friday night does not seek endorsement for retaliatory military strikes, but echoes the initial council resolution recognizing a nation's right to ``individual or collective self-defense.'' |
