Interpol extends terrorist net

2004-10-09 18:58

Caccun, Mexico - Interpol wrapped up its weeklong annual meeting Friday by expanding its alerts for international terrorists, and elected a South African police chief as the international agency's new president.

Meeting in the Mexican resort Cancun, representatives of 114 of the 182 member countries elected South African national police commissioner Jackie Selebi as the body's new president, with 83 votes.

Selebi becomes the first African to hold the post. Mexican candidate Genaro Garcia Luna ran second, with 31 votes, in the vote to replace outgoing president, Spaniard Jesus Espigares.

Participants at the Interpol conference also urged nations to allow greater access to information on international terrorists.

"Interpol's role is to try to make sure that terrorists can't move from one country to another country undetected," the organisation's secretary-general, Ronald Noble, said in a news conference closing the meeting.

Espigares said the only way to respond quickly and efficiently to the world's terrorism threats is through international co-operation.

Interpol has long used international alerts, but only to distribute a country's request for the capture of fugitives charged with specific crimes. This week, Interpol changed its bylaws to allow alerts for people suspected of being an active member of a terrorist group.

Interpol recently updated its database to include the names of 6 000 presumed terrorists and information on nearly 4 million stolen travel documents.

Espigares said the new nature of terrorism has made it difficult for security officials.

"The terrorist chooses the staging ground," he said. "He decides where, how and when, and that makes it difficult for police."

Interpol, based in Lyon, France, also called for better training and closer contact between police in the case of a major terrorist attack.

- AP