The United Nations Security Council monitoring team whose last report courted controversy for linking Barisan Nasional to the al-Qaeda terror network has released another report noting several developments in the international efforts against terrorism.

In its third report unveiled last week, the monitoring team of the Afghan Sanctions Committee outlined several progresses in various countries, including Malaysia, in identifying and breaking up al-Qaeda cells or arresting their associates in Southeast Asia.

"A concerted effort by the governments of Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, dating back to the autumn of 2001, led to the identification of a number of cells in the area linked to Jemaah Islamiah (JI), which had been planning terrorist attacks," said the team in its 33-page report which is also available on the Internet.

The monitoring team added much of this information was obtained as a result of the successful break-up of a major operational cell by Singaporean authorities, and the arrest of several key suspects of the Oct 12 Bali bomb attacks by Indonesian authorities.

However, the team warned that while cooperation between these governments represented a major step forward in the fight against terror, the region remains vulnerable to such activities.

Porous borders

The team stated although important progress was made in identifying and breaking up al-Qaeda cells, a substantial number of operatives remain at large in various countries, as evident from recent events.

"The bombing of a discotheque in Bali by JI a group directly linked to al-Qaeda and the more recent attacks in Mombasa, Kenya, underscore the wide reach of al-Qaeda and the existence of a dangerous coalition of extremist groups in Southeast Asia and others of like mind in East Africa," it added.

In addition, the monitoring team said al-Qaeda operatives continue to be able to move about in its various areas of operation in Europe and Southeast Asia, or between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"This is because a great many al-Qaeda operatives remain unidentified or, if identified, information on them has not been communicated sufficiently to other jurisdiction. The borders in some of these areas are porous and/or difficult to monitor," said the report.

Weakest link

According to the team, the weakest link in the enforcement of sanctions against al-Qaeda-linked organisations and individuals was the difficulty in maintaining an effective arms embargo.

"The (team) has seen very little progress in this field. Although the (team) does not have specific evidence concerning arms and explosives reaching al-Qaeda or its associated entities, there is sufficient information to confirm that al-Qaeda has access to weapons, ammunition and explosives," it said.

To illustrate the easy access to explosives or ingredients to make them, the monitoring group pointed to the recent arms seizures in Southeast Asia.

The team referred to the discovery of weapons and large amounts of nitric acid and ammonium nitrate in the possession of terrorist suspects in the Philippines, as well as the four tonnes of ammonium nitrate said to have been purchased by Yazid Sufaat, a former Malaysian army captain currently detained under the Internal Security Act for his links to the Sept 11 hijackers.

"These examples are only the tip of the iceberg and are provided to demonstrate the relative ease with which terrorists are able to get access to basic explosives," said the report.

IMF assessments

Meanwhile, the monitoring group reported that several new efforts were also under way in banking capitals and centres throughout the world to expand the application of stricter 'know your customer' rules.

Among the various offshore financial centres that have cooperated with the anti-terrorism efforts, including Labuan, which started cooperating with International Monetary Fund assessments aimed at combating money-laundering and the financing of terrorism.

"Since Feb 2002, IMF has included an examination of countries' procedures to combat money-laundering and the financing of terrorism as part of the Financial Sector Assessment Programmes and the examination of offshore financial centres' legal, regulatory and supervisory systems," the team stated.

The UN monitoring team was mandated to monitor, report and make recommendations concerning the measures that the Security Council decided that states should take against Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, the Taliban and associated individuals and entities.

Malaysian leaders were outraged over the team's second report in September which contained a chart linking BN, PAS, the Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (Abim), the Front Malaysian Islamic Council (FMIC), the Indian Muslim Congress of Malaysia (Kimma) and the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (MIYM) to the al-Qaeda.

The connection was established via their ties to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) a southern Philippines separatist group allegedly linked to the terror network.

Although formal protests were lodged by Malaysia's Permanent Representative to the UN Hasmy Agam and PAS leaders, no action or announcement has been made publicly by the monitoring team to address the issue.