Ms Sarah Sewall, United States Under-Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, on Tuesday said that her government had since Sept..9, 2011 increased the tracking of terror finance.
Sewall, who disclosed this in a transcript of her teleconference with
Journalists from across Africa, said that such tracking had become
important in reducing terrorist activities globally.
The U.S. official, who spoke on “Threats to Civilian Security in
Africa’’, also said that her government was building an
‘’international ability’’ of many nations and organisations in
fighting terror financing.
“It is part of President Obama’s commitment to increase transparency
and accountability of how it conducts counterterrorism operations
worldwide.
“In terms of tracking terror finance, this is an area that we’ve been
working on for some time as part of our commitment to attacking global
criminal networks.
“But, we’ve increased it significantly since Sept. 9, 2011, because
we have recognised the importance of finance for sustaining global
terror networks,’’ she said.
According to her, there is more to be done, because terrorists are
very adaptive and are currently being aided by technology.
Sewall said that the U.S. government was always looking for where
assets were hidden, as well as how finance was being laundered, with a
view to bringing offenders to justices.
The Under Secretary said that although the government had made
‘’significant progress’’, it would continue to put in more efforts in
supporting the global fight against terror financing.
‘’Terrorism financing is a key reason why civilians suffer and die
throughout the world
‘‘And so it’s actually a very important, if often unrecognized, as part
of civilian protection efforts,’’ she added.
Leave a Reply