Cablegate: Instruction for Usun to Request Un 1267 Listing

VZCZCXRO5264
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHC #2607/01 0120059
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 120053Z JAN 10
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 9384
INFO EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1447
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 6213
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 8721
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 0994
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 4599
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 2752
RUEATRS/TREASURY DEPT WASHINGTON DC 0591

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 STATE 002607

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EFIN KN KS KTFN PREL PTER SA YM UNSC
SUBJECT: INSTRUCTION FOR USUN TO REQUEST UN 1267 LISTING
OF AL QAIDA IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA AND TOP LEADERS

REF: A. 2009 STATE 129597
B. SEOUL 000003
C. OTTAWA 911
D. STATE 001098
E. CANBERRA 000012
F. 2009 ANKARA 001848

1. This is an action request. Please see paragraphs 3 and 4.

2. SUMMARY: The U.S. prenotified (ref A) its intention to
request on December 18, 2009, that the UN 1267 Sanctions
Committee add the names of Yemen-based al-Qa'ida in the
Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and two of its leaders, Nasir
al-Wahishi and Ali al-Shihri, to the Committee's list of
individuals and entities associated with Usama bin Laden, the
Taliban or al-Qaida. Listed individuals and entities are
subject to UN Security Council mandated sanctions, including
a travel ban, arms embargo, and asset freeze. The UK,
Australia, Republic of Korea and Canada have indicated their
intent to co-sponsor this listing request. Turkey has also
indicated possible interest in co-sponsoring. Saudi Arabia is
leaning towards co-sponsorship, but it may not yet have
instructed its mission in New York accordingly. End summary.

3. ACTION REQUEST: USUN is requested to submit on January 12,
2010, the following names with statements of case for listing
(note: coversheets will be sent via e-mail) by the UN 1267
Sanctions Committee:

BEGIN TEXT

(1) AL-QA'IDA IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA
AKA: AQAP
AKA: Al-Qa'ida of Jihad Organization in the Arabian Peninsula
AKA: Tanzim Qa'idat al-Jihad fi Jazirat al-Arab
AKA: Al-Qa'ida Organization in the Arabian Peninsula
AKA: Al-Qa'ida in Yemen
AKA: AQY
AKA: Al-Qa'ida in the South Arabian Peninsula

Location:Yemen
Alt. Location: Saudi Arabia

In January 2009, the leader of al-Qa'ida in Yemen (AQY),
Nasir al-Wahishi, publically announced that Yemeni and Saudi
al-Qa'ida operatives were now working together under the
banner of al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). This
announcement signaled the rebirth of an al-Qa'ida franchise
that carried out attacks under this name in Saudi Arabia from
2004 - 2006.

AQAP's self-stated goals include establishing a caliphate in
the Arabian Peninsula and the wider Middle East as well as
implementing Shari'a law. In AQAP's January 24, 2009
inaugural video, al-Wahishi stated the group's goals are to:
"rally on supporting the religion,
establish the Caliphate, and fight the enemies." Al-Wahishi
describes the group's predisposition toward violence to
achieve these goals in the same statement saying, "after
demonstrations, there must be bombings. After civil
disobedience, there must be military anger."

Since its inception, AQAP has carried out a number of attacks
in the Arabian Peninsula. In addition to the AQY attack
against the U.S. Embassy in September 2008, AQAP carried out
a suicide bombing against a South Korean tourist group in
Yemen in March 2009. In June 2009, AQAP kidnapped nine
foreign nationals in Yemen and eventually killed three. In
September 2009, an AQAP suicide bomber attempted to
assassinate Prince Muhammad Bin Nayif Bin'Abd Al-'Aziz, Saudi
Arabia's Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs.

Moreover, AQAP envisions for itself a more strategic role
than only attacks in the Arabian Peninsula. In a February
2009 video statement, AQAP deputy Said al-Shihri described a
broader role for this new iteration of AQAP that would entail
'extending support from the
(Arabian) Peninsula to jihad in Palestine, Somalia, Iraq,
Afghanistan, and all Muslim countries, with the aim of
defending our lands and our sacred things.' There is evidence
indicating that some al-Qa'ida operatives may be leaving
Pakistan in hopes of relocating to Yemen or Somalia.

Further evidence of this process came to light on December
25, 2009, when a Nigerian national allegedly trained by AQAP
ignited an incendiary device on a Northwest Airlines flight
from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan. The would-be bomber,
identified as Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab, attempted to detonate the high-powered
explosive but was unsuccessful. He was overpowered by
passengers and crew. In an online statement, AQAP claimed
responsibility for the attack and said that Abdulmutallab had
coordinated the plot with members of AQAP.

(2) NASIR AL-WAHISHI
AKA: Abu Basir
AKA: Abu Basir Nasir al-Wahishi
AKA: Naser Abdel Karim al-Wahishi
AKA: Nasir Abd al-Karim al-Wuhayshi
AKA: Abu Basir Nasir al-Wuhayshi
AKA: Nasser Abdul-karim Abdullah al-Wouhichi
AKA: Abu Baseer al-Wehaishi
AKA: Abu Basir Nasser al-Wuhishi

Nationality: Yemeni
DOB: October 1, 1976 (08/10/1396 H)
Passport: Yemen #40483; Issued: 01/05/1997; Expiration:
Unknown

Nasir al-Wahishi has led two al-Qa'ida affiliated groups that
have each publicly claimed responsibility for planning and
carrying out assassinations, suicide bombings, and attacks
against critical infrastructure. The targets for these
attacks have included the U.S.
Embassy in Sana'a, tourists, aid workers, Yemeni
counterterrorism officials, and oil facilities. As recently
as January 2009, al-Wahishi indicated his predisposition
toward violence in a January 2009 video statement, saying
"demonstrations should be followed by violence and civil
disobedience should also be followed by military anger."

Nasir al-Wahishi announced himself as the leader of al-Qa'ida
in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in January 2009. The press
release in which al-Wahishi announced AQAP's re-emergence
also noted that the group's Saudi terrorists had pledged
allegiance to al-Wahishi as their new leader.

Al-Wahishi has provided significant support for AQAP
terrorist operations and has worked with AQAP operatives to
facilitate attacks. As AQAP's leader, al-Wahishi is
responsible for approving targets, recruiting new members,
allocating resources to training and attack
planning, and tasking others to carry out attacks. Under
al-Wahishi's leadership, AQAP claimed responsibility for two
separate attacks in Yemen: the first against South Korean
tourists that killed four, and the second against a convoy
carrying South Korean officials investigating the March 15
attack. In addition, AQAP kidnapped nine foreigners in June
2009, killing three of them. In September 2009 AQAP was
thought to be involved with the attempted assassination of
Saudi Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs
Muhammad Bin Nayif Bin'Abd Al-'Aziz.

Al-Wahishi emerged as the leader of one of AQAP's predecessor
groups, al-Qa'ida in Yemen (AQY), in 2007. On September 17,
2008, AQY attacked the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a, killing 16.
AQY claimed responsibility for the attacks nearly two months
later, and in so doing confirmed experts' assessments that
the attacks bore all the hallmarks of al-Qa'ida.

Al-Wahishi, a Yemeni citizen, had been in Afghanistan during
the late 1990s until the post-9/11 U.S. attack on the
Taliban. Al-Wahishi escaped across the border to Iran, where
he was arrested and then extradited to Yemen in 2003. The
Yemeni government never officially brought charges against
him, and he escaped from Yemeni prison along with 22 others
in 2006. Following his escape, an Interpol Orange Notice,
File #2009/52/OS/CCC, #75, was issued for al-Wahishi. In
explaining the notice, Interpol described the escape and
al-Wahishi's unknown whereabouts as constituting a clear and
present danger.

Al-Wahishi has direct ties to al-Qa'ida and its senior
leadership. He has claimed publically to have been the
secretary and confidant of the leader of Al-Qa'ida, Osama Bin
Laden, prior to his return to Yemen. He has repeatedly sworn
allegiance to Bin Laden and al-Qa'ida senior leadership
(e.g., his February 2009 video statement), and in late
February 2008 Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's deputy,
described al-Wahishi as the 'Amir of the Mujahidin in Yemen.'

Nasir al-Wahishi continues to lead AQAP, an active terrorist
organization operating in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

(3) Said Ali al-Shihri
AKA: Abu-Sayyaf
AKA: Abu-Sufyan al-Azidi
AKA: Abu-Sayyaf al-Shihri
AKA: Abu Sufian Kadhdhaab Matrook
AKA: Sa'id Ali Jabir al-Khathim al-Shihri
AKA:Salah
AKA: Salah Abu Sufyan
AKA: Salah al-Din
AKA: Abu Osama
AKA: Abu Sulaiman
AKA: Nur al-Din Afghani Azibk
AKA: Alakhaddm (variant: Akhdam)

DOB: 12 September 1973
Nationality: Saudi
Passport: Saudi Arabia # C102432; Issued 17/1/1421H,
Expires 17/1/1426H

(U/FOUO) Said Ali al-Shihri was publicly identified in
January 2009 as the deputy leader of al-Qa'ida's regional
affiliate, al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Since
this announcement, AQAP has claimed responsibility for the
March 2009 suicide bombings that killed four Korean tourists
in Yemen, and is reportedly behind the kidnapping of nine
foreigners in Yemen, and the subsequent execution of three of
them in June 2009.

(U/FOUO) Speaking as AQAP's deputy leader in a March 2009
audio statement, al-Shihri vowed to open a "great front"
against the United States and the West in the Arabian
Peninsula and called on fellow militants to "detonate them at
sea and kill them on land." In addition to using invective to
promote acts of violence, as deputy of AQAP, al-Shihri is
involved in the means to carry out such acts, including, but
not limited to: generating targets; recruiting new members;
assisting with training and attack planning; and tasking
others in the preparation of attacks.

(U/FOUO) Since joining AQAP as its deputy, al-Shihri has
repeatedly proclaimed his loyalty to the al-Qa'ida terrorist
network, a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Al-Shihri appeared in a AQAP video statement in January 2009,
and made a brief statement in the February 2009 Ayman
al-Zawahiri video statement. In both videos, al-Shihri
pledged his loyalty to senior al-Qa'ida leaders Usama bin
Ladin and al-Zawahiri and vowed to perform jihad. He also
gave his allegiance to AQAP emir Nasir al-Wahishi, who
advocates violence in the name of "vengeance" against Europe
and the United States for their "support to the Jews."
Consistent with al-Qa'ida's philosophy, al-Shihri publicly
called for waging jihad until "we establish the state of
Islam and righteous Caliphate . . . and (un)til we establish
God's Shari'ah."

(U/FOUO) Al-Shihri is believed to have played a key
operational role in the September 2008 attack against the
U.S. Embassy in Sanaa. In addition, al-Shihri likely played a
critical role in the August 2009 assassination attempt
against Saudi Prince Muhammad bin Nayif. Bin Nayif was
believed to be on the phone with al-Shihri when the phone
detonated a bomb planted inside AQAP operative Abdallah
Assiri.

(U/FOUO) For his role in terrorist activities, al-Shihri was
listed among Saudi Arabia's 85 most wanted terrorists in
February 2009. He was charged with "(i)nfiltrating into Yemen
and joining the ranks of al-Qa'ida, under the leadership of
Nasir al-Wahishi, a wanted person; being appointed as
al-Wahishi's deputy; making direct threats to carry out acts
of terrorism and assassination of senior officials and of
security men in the kingdom."

(U/FOUO) Al-Shihri was captured in Pakistan in 2001 and held
as detainee number 372 at the U.S. facility in Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba until his release in 2007. According to al-Shihri's
Review Board Administrative Summary, he was accused of
facilitating travel for jihadists into Afghanistan and having
trained in urban warfare in Afghanistan; charges that
al-Shihri denied.

END TEXT

4. USUN is further requested to coordinate in advance with
the UK, Australian, Canadian, Saudi, South Korean and Turkish
missions to the UN in order to ensure those missions submit
timely information to the Committee signaling their
co-sponsorship for these listings.

5. POINT OF CONTACT: Questions may be directed to IO/PSC (Ed
Goff, 202-736-7735) or S/CT (Lillian McTernan, 202-647-6573).

CLINTON

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