Military

DATE=12/06/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=U-S/TERRORISM LIST (L-O)

NUMBER=2-283983

BYLINE=ROBERT DAGUILLARD

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The U-S State Department has issued a list of 39 alleged terrorist organizations and affiliated businesses whose members will now be barred from entering the United States. Officials in Washington say the measure is designed to close loopholes that allowed alleged terrorists and their sympathizers to travel to the U-S. VOA's Robert Daguillard has more from Washington.

TEXT: The State Department says it issued the new exclusion list under the new anti-terrorist Patriot Act, which Congress voted into law on October 25th. The law calls for stiffer penalties for terror-related crimes and enhances the power of law enforcement agencies.

The list issued Thursday includes organizations from 15 countries, including Somalia, Yemen, Lebanon, the Philippines and South Africa.

It targets members of alleged Islamic terrorist organizations, such as Somalia's Al-Ittihad Al-Islami, or South Africa's PAGAD, a self-styled group of anti-drug vigilantes.

However, the black list also includes Protestant and Catholic paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland and Rwanda's ethnic Hutu Interahamwe militia. Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front rebels will also be barred from entering the United States.

The Revolutionary United Front, which controls much of Sierra Leone's diamond fields, has denied a recent report that it sold diamonds to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida terrorist network. The report said Al-Qaida turned a profit by reselling the gems on the international market.

NEB/RMD/RH