US offers nine patrol boats Yemen gets help to patrol waters [Archives:2002/43/Local News]

BY MOHAMMED AL-QADHI
YEMEN TIMES STAFF
In the wake of the explosion of the French supertanker Limburg, a top American general says the US is planning on giving nine patrol boats to Yemen to help protect its massive shoreline from terrorists.
Commander General Tommy Franks, who was here on Thursday to met with President Ali Abdullah Saleh, discussed the boats as part of the helping the Yemeni coast guard to patrol its 2,400 kms coastline.
He said in a press conference at the US embassy and after a meeting with some Yemeni officials from the coast guard police that the project, an initiative of President Saleh, is vital for the security of the region.
While at least 100 patrol boats are needed, the American donation is a start.
“I have been associated with a creation of a coast guard for Yemen over a long time. When you consider that Yemen has a coastline of more that 2,400 kms, you can see the value of the project,” Franks said.
He pointed out that the project would stop the penetration of terrorists, using the Limburg as an example. He also said it is good for the protection of fisheries as well as for controlling illegal immigration.
Franks said that Yemeni officers are now being trained in English and that by the end of this year they will receive coast guard schooling, either in Yemen or Europe.
An American expert is now working with the Yemeni coast guard authority.
The nine boats are to arrive by next summer.
General Franks, who paid a visit to some Arab countries to gain support for a possible US strike on Iraq, stressed that his country would provide any sort of assistance Yemen would request in order to build the coast guard.
Discussion between the US general and President Saleh focused on the war on terrorism and regional issues, mainly the situation in Palestine and the US threat to strike Iraq.



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