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Aznar asks UNSC to draw up list of terrorists

United Nations May 7. The Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, has called on the U.N. Security Council to draw up a world list of terrorist groups similar to the list used to crack down on Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.

But, in a speech to a public meeting of the Council, Mr. Aznar did not specify any movement he wished to see included on the list.

``Terrorism is not a matter concerning this or that country. It concerns us all, it is trans-national,'' Mr. Aznar told the Security Council.

``We must re-think the phenomenon of terrorism and the security architecture, both national and international, that we have been constructing in order to combat it.''

Last month, Spain took over the chairmanship of the council's counter-terrorism committee from Britain.

Mr. Aznar also recommended that the council set up ``an institutional mechanism'' to allow the victims of terrorism to ``speak and bear witness'' through the United Nations.

He gave no details and his speech contained no other specific proposals.

In a related developemtn, no one on the U.N. Security Council objected to lifting sanctions against Iraq, but the U.S. is at odds with Russia and France on how quickly the embargoes should end. The U.S. President, George W. Bush, called for the immediate lifting of sanctions three weeks ago following the end of the war that toppled Saddam Hussein, but the U.S. has yet to present specific proposals to the Council. Until it does, council members can't begin discussing the issues of sanctions, the future of the oil-for-food humanitarian programme, the return of U.N. weapons inspectors and the world body's role in post-war Iraq. The U.S. Ambassador, John Negroponte, has said he hoped to present something to the council this week.

— AP, AFP

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