Yemen receives first batch of gunboats [Archives:2004/713/Front Page]

Ridhwan Al-Saqqaf
Yemeni Coast Guard Authority in Aden on Monday received seven American gunboats offered to Yemen for security purposes off the Yemeni coast and the Gulf of Aden.
Forces of the Yemeni Coast Guard have conducted a sea survey of the areas where the boats are to be deployed in southern areas of the Red Sea, Miyoun Island, the Bab el Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden to secure those coasts and to watch shipping in the Bab el Mandab Strait as part of the security plan for fighting terror.
Yemen Times has learned that the United States will deliver to Yemen a second batch of interceptor gunboats under a plan to supply the Yemeni Coast Guard with such boats to protect its ports and territorial waters.
Military training operations are scheduled for the next few days, focusing on the use of the Coast Guard gunboats against possible acts of terrorism.
The Coast Guard Authority trained a number of officers and soldiers in the United States in late 2003.
The Commander of the American forces in the Horn of Africa last month attended the graduation ceremony of a group of Coast Guard personnel and witnessed anti-terrorism military maneuvers by Yemeni Special Forces and some American experts, in addition to forces of the Yemeni Coast Guard.
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