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UN anti-terror official urges national prevention effort
2006-02-20 07:13:32
By Guardian Reporter
Building the ability of nations to fight terrorism is crucial in the struggle against the scourge, the United Nations top counter-terrorism official has said at the end of a weeklong visit to Tanzania.
’’The best way to prevent the attacks by terrorists and the best way to prevent at the same time the consequences of those attacks is to put in place a good legal system, a good financial system, a good system of international cooperation where the terrorists and their accomplices would not find a way to strike,’’ a UN statement quoted the head of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), Javier Rupérez, as saying.
Rupérez led an 11-member team which was in the country since February 13.
Experts from Interpol, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Maritime Organization, the African Union and the European Commission participated in the visit, as in previous missions.
The Tanzania trip also marked the first time the delegation included an expert from the Security Council Committee on Al-Qaida and the Taliban.
’’We have managed to develop at the same time a very strong sense of partnership with all the regional and sub-regional organizations within Africa just to make sure that we not only get the cooperation from the national authorities, but that we get at the same time a very strong sense of partnership from the regional organizations,’’ Rupérez said.
The purpose of country visits is to assess, on location and in practice, how Member States implement the obligations of the landmark Security Council measure, resolution 1373, which was adopted in 2001 in the wake of the terror attacks against the United States.
The expert teams also evaluate the nature and level of assistance that a particular country may need in order to fulfil those obligations.
Resolution 1373, which also established the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) to monitor compliance with its provisions, calls on countries to implement a number of measures to enhance their ability to counter terrorist activities nationally, regionally and globally.
The CTED began on-site meetings with States last year with its first country visit to Morocco in mid-March, followed by trips to Kenya, Albania, Thailand and Algeria.
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