RIYADH, 8 February 2005 — Delegates attending the Counterterrorism International Conference in Riyadh have agreed to set up a fund whose money will come from frozen bank accounts of terrorists and will go to the victims of terror.
This was revealed at a news conference yesterday on the sidelines of the conference.
The fund would be financed from money confiscated from terrorists, their groups or supporters. At the news conference, which was chaired by Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the head of the Belgian delegation confirmed there was indeed such a fund, and that this was agreed upon by all the delegates.
“Confiscated money from frozen bank accounts, or that from terrorist groups would be used to finance the fund. The fund will be used to help the victims of terrorism,” the Belgian delegate, Koenraad Dssen said.
He did not specify on what basis the money would be distributed and who would decide the distribution.
When Prince Saud was asked whether the conference discussed practices of occupying forces in certain Muslim and Arab countries and whether resistance against occupation was considered terrorism, he said: “From the very beginning of this conference we agreed not to discuss situations in occupied countries, territories, or countries in a state of war. The final communiqué will refer this to the United Nations. However, we all agreed that terrorism at this time is explicitly clear and it is a crime that can be pointed out by anyone.”
To a question about his meeting with Iraqi Interior Minister Falah Naqib, Prince Saud said that the meeting was not on any security issue, “but on diplomacy as the interior minister is a guest in the Kingdom.” However, he requested Iraq once again to furnish a list of Saudi nationals who are in that country. “The Kingdom wants to make sure that no Saudi works against the interest of Iraq,” he said. “The Iraqi minister promised to provide us with the requested information,” he added.
Briefing the press on yesterday’s sessions, Prince Saud said: “Today the activities of the focus group are over and they came up with 55 recommendations to the general secretariats of the conference, with the breakdown as follows:
“Sixteen recommendations dealt with terrorism and its roots. Nine recommendations dealt with money laundering, arms dealing, and drug trafficking. Another nine recommendations came from various countries’ experiences in confronting terror. Twenty-one recommendations were on terror organizations and their formations.
“The focus groups were successful in completing their tasks before deadline which reflects the positive attitude, seriousness, responsibility, understanding, and the agreement on topics discussed.”
“The Secretariat General has begun to study the recommendations which will be reviewed, amended, and approved tomorrow (Tuesday) before they are announced in the final communiqué,” he added.
Asked by Arab News whether the Arab world would again be subjected to embargos similar to the ones imposed by many countries in the 70s and 80s when terrorism hit Europe, the foreign minister said: “You cannot blame countries for the measures they take to protect themselves and their people. As long as these measures or restrictions are justifiable, and as long as there is terrorism we will see more of these measures.”
