UN resolution will 'explicitly' target ISIL oil money: France's Sapin

A draft resolution to be submitted to the UN Security Council takes "explicit" aim at the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group and its lucrative trade in oil, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin told AFP in an interview Dec. 16.

Sapin said the resolution, to be debated Dec. 17, would send a "very strong political message: the fight against the financing of terrorism is one of the priorities of the United Nations' members and every state must take the necessary measures."  

And ahead of Thursday's meeting with of all 15 finance ministers of Security Council member states -- the first of its kind -- Sapin warned that countries that fail to turn off the tap on jihadists' funding could potentially face sanctions.
 
France requested the meeting following the terror attacks in Paris last month that left 130 people dead and were claimed by ISIL.    

Sapin has made cutting off extremists' financing a key goal since the French capital was first hit by jihadists in January, when gunmen attacked the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket.
 
Based on an earlier resolution targeting Al-Qaeda, the new text "will be explicitly extended to Daesh", Sapin said, using another term for ISIL.
 
He added that it will "in particular aim for the freezing of assets that in one way or another stem from oil smuggling".
 
"It will also demand that states exercise special vigilance with regard to the smuggling of works of art that could feed big movements like Daesh," the minister said.
         
Adam Szubin, the US Treasury's acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes, said last week that ISIL has reaped more than $500 million (460 million euros) in black market oil sales, looted...