Weapon buy-backs showcased in Sana’a [Archives:2007/1054/Last Page]
May 28 2007
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Pressmen and representatives of several local and international media had an opportunity to access three storage facilities filled with a wide range of arms and weapons which were bought from the public in various parts of the country as a part of an arms-reduction strategy carried out by the Yemeni government. The Interior Ministry has arranged a media tour to the three arm stores in a rare opportunity to attend a showcase of the various types of weapons which were in the hands of regular civilians, tribal sheikhs and clans from around the country. Tens of thousands arm pieces with different types including rare brands made including the latest guns made in the U.S. UK, Europe and China were bought” an Interior Ministry representative, who requested not to be identified, said.
The representative pointed out that the first storage facility contains Ground-Ground and Ground-Air missiles and rockets, and also large machine guns with medium to long-ranges, while the second storage facility is full of mortars, anti-personal and anti-vehicles land mines, hand grenades and other types of explosives. He added that those in charge of the stores are not allowed to give pressmen any information about the prices of arm pieces they collected, confirming that their task is limited to keeping the collected arms, and allow journalists to 'take pictures only'.
According to the Interior Ministry's representative who accompanied the journalists, the ministry estimated the value of the collected arm pieces to exceed ten billion Riyals.
At a Thursday's news conference, Interior Minister Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi promised that attendants may visit these storage facilities in order to portray the success of the Ministry in controlling the trade and ownership of weapons, in accordance to an arms collection plan, approved by the cabinet last April. The Yemeni government also decided to shut down arm trade shops and outlaw the ownership of all heavy weapons with exceeding a gun and a machine gun per family for protection purposes, as stated by president Saleh himself earlier this year.
The operation of collecting and withdrawing weapons costs the state tens of billions of Riyals not only for buy-backs but also for logistics and inventory, especially that many of these weapons are very sensitive and can result in a devastating disaster if mis handled, according to an Interior Ministry's report. The report disclosed that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states made pledges to extend financial assistance to Yemen to continue out this arm collection project.
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