The Gulf Cooperation Council has agreed to establish a regional task force to halt the financing of Al Qaida-related insurgency groups. GCC sources said the six-member council will set up a body to combat insurgency financing and money-laundering by July 2004. They said the body will be modeled after the Financial Action Task Force, which monitors insurgency financing and money-laundering throughout the world. Bahrain could be the headquarters of such a new group, the sources said. On Jan. 13, GCC officials met Bahraini government representatives, World Bank and International Monetary Fund to discuss details of the project. The sources said the World Bank and IMF would be joined by Western allies of the GCC to establish the body. The organization would also include Britain, France and the United States. In addition, the new body would adopt and implement recommendations against what a draft proposal termed "money laundering and terrorist financing."
| After a rather slow start, they're finally getting on board. I think the Saudi attacks might have highlighted the self-preservation aspects. |
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