Report: Saudis, Yemen May Erect a Fence

UK Guardian/AP ^ | February 9, 2004

[veronica]

CAIRO, Egypt (AP)- In a bid to stop arms smuggling and terror attacks, Saudi and Yemeni officials will meet soon to review plans to build a fence along their frontier, a pan-Arab newspaper reported Monday.

Lt. Gen. Talal Anqawi, head of the Saudi border police, told the London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat that the concrete fence would be effective in preventing smuggling and infiltration, especially by car.

The newspaper said the meeting was being held to avoid an escalation of Yemeni objections to the fence.

Anqawi refused to call it a barrier, and said the fence was well within Saudi territory and should not be viewed as encroaching on common border areas.

The paper added that there was a similar fence on some parts of the Saudi-Kuwaiti border.

Both Saudi Arabia and Yemen are U.S. allies in the war against terror and have been hit by terrorist attacks at home.

After suicide bombings in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, in May and November, the Saudis stepped up security along their southern border with Yemen, a traditional route for drug and arms smuggling. In June, both states signed an agreement to upgrade border surveillance.

Saudi officials believe most of the weapons used in militant operations in Saudi Arabia - including the May suicide attacks - are smuggled in from Yemen, an impoverished country at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula that has long been awash in small arms - an estimated 60 million, or three for each of its 20 million people, authorities say.

In December, Saudi authorities announced they had arrested 4,047 people and seized large quantities of weapons and drugs in the south along the border with Yemen.

[dirtboy]

Apparently, what's good for the Saudis isn't good for the Israelis. I wonder if we'll hear wails from the Arab "street" about how the Saudis are cutting off Yemeni freedom of movement.

[xJones]

If only the fence would keep the kwazy Wahhabis trapped inside Saudi Arabia....

[veronica]

Quick, call the UN.

I am sure they will want to convene an immediate meeting of the Security Council to take up the matter of this "apartheid fence."

[TeleStraightShooter]

From what I gather, that frontier border covers about the same area as Tijuana to El Paso; much of it in the "Empty Quarter", so I suppose that surveillance would be to some degree easier.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

A Saudi-Yemini "Apartheid Wall".

[traumer]

ED = erectile dysfunction

[Valin]

I was just about to make the same point. Great minds think alike.