Crime rate declines by 43% due weapons ban [Archives:2008/1118/Last Page]
Hamed Thabet
According to recent statistics, incidents of crime have decreased by an average of 43% in Yemen's urban areas. The decrease is explained as a result of implementing a government ban on carrying weapons. Mohammed Abudulah Al-Qowsi, the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, confirmed that, “As a result of disarmament, cities are safer for people to live in, especially encouraging and opening better opportunities for investment in Yemen.”
According to Ahmed Hae'l, a public relations assistant in the Ministry of Interior, the main cities have experienced a 95% reduction in firearms. However, he stated, “villages and small towns are still armed and not yet controlled.”
Responsible sources in the Ministry of Interior assured that as of Tuesday, 2,741 firearms were seized within city limits, with a further 59,347 pieces seized at check points between cities.
Hae'l confirmed that more than sixty-two thousand firearms have been seized so far, including handguns, machine guns and sometimes antiaircraft guns. He elaborated that all seized firearms were delivered to the judiciary, which will make a ruling on their disposal.
Most of the firearms seized were not in cites, but at check points; many people couldn't successfully smuggle weapons bought at arms markets into cities.
The government is also attacking the sources of the problem, according to Al-Qowsi, who stated, “Small arms markets are closed and many other markets are in the process of shutting down. If we want to solve the firearms problem we have to start from the source, which is arms and ammunition markets.”
Hae'l said that the government is not confiscating weapons for its own use or to ban them forever, but is implementing a safer and better weapons policy, pointing to previous crimes resulting from unrestricted armament in the wrong hands. Moreover, it asserts that its main goal is to create strict rules in order to control problems caused by an abuse of weapons.
The campaign includes everyone without any exceptions. According to Hae'l, nearly all the officials and sheikhs obeyed the law and had no other recourse except to hand over the weapons. 99% of officials and sheikhs allegedly did so voluntarily.
Al-Qowsi noted that although in the past armed people in cities showed a lack of respect for the government and its officials, they obeyed and handed over their firearms sometimes by force. Since August 23, 2007, government forces have worked hard to limit this phenomenon as much as possible. Moreover, Al-Qowsi assured with satisfaction that these challenges require both “the tenacity of a career military man, and the diplomacy and sensitivity of a seasoned politician.”
The disarmament plan consists of three stages, with the first stage taking three months, while the second and third steps to continue until September 2008. The plan is recognized under article 40, which bans weapons.
Al-Qowsi explained that this military program has in turn been complemented by another operation in which the government spent about 2 billion YR in order to purchase heavy arms from tribesmen such as shoulder-fired surface to air missiles and rocket propelled grenades.
The Yemeni army is waging a large-scale campaign against anyone who carries weapons. The are many places and sites where weapons are seized, for example check points between cities, in order to ensure that no weapon will get inside the city.
However, villages and small towns are still armed. According to Hae'l, “There are many armed villages which cannot be controlled, and of course, supervising each village is a difficult job. Also, the Ministry of the Interior doesn't currently have any strategy for disarming these areas.”
Firearms are spread throughout many cites, being most concentrated in Shabwa, followed by Sada'a, governorates near Sana'a, Taiz, Al-Hodeidah and lastly Aden. All firearms are seized without exception.
Hae'l added, “We have to begin from some point, and the first step that the government took was in the main cities. Nevertheless, after all cities are cleared of firearms, we will shift to villages and small towns in order to cleanse Yemen of this phenomenon.”
There is a bylaw that officials and sheikhs be provided by armed bodyguards, the decision of which rests on the government. In the past, they could have many armed bodyguards with him, whereas now they are provided with only a few, who are required to carry government licenses. Also, soldiers can carry weapons only when wearing military uniforms.
The government's main aim is creating a healthy atmosphere for investment in Yemen and also to provide a safe living environment. It claims that this can only be achieved by decreasing the crime rate, which will not come about without disarmament and control of weapons. On the other hand, the mass media played a large role in that field, strongly advocating disarmament.
A study done by the Ministry of Interior noted that a loss of more than $18 billion was incurred from firearms usage over the last 20 years. On the other hand, statistics released by the Ministry of Interior said that the crime rate in 2006 had increased to 35,000 from a previous 24,024.
There are an estimated 60 million weapons in Yemen, opposed to an estimated population of 20 million, according to official reports, a ratio of three firearms for every citizen.
Foreign tourists avoid visiting historical places in Yemen like Marib (which dates back more than 3,000 years) because of past attacks, including explosions. However, many residents in Marib have kept 40 thousand of their weapons in their houses in order to encourage tourism. At the same time, Abud Allah Hayder, a Marib sheikh, confirmed, “The disarmament campaign is a very important step in the lengthy process of cleaning Yemen of firearms.”
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