200,000 Police In Yemen
The Ministry of the Interior has launched the fifth phase of a plan to increase security in Yemen by deploying thousands of soldiers across the land. On Wednesday, the ministry announced the deployment of 7,000 soldiers to 112 districts and 12 checkpoints outside cities in Yemen. Soldiers who were trained at a high level will be positioned in security in 49 zones. Of these 49 zones, 25 will be under control of the Ministry of the Interior. Twelve will be managed by Rescue Forces. The last 12 will be under the guidance of the Central Security Forces.
Security officials say that this new deployment comes in the framework of a plan announced in 2002 by President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The plan is part of a general strategy to help the state to rebuild the capacity of the security forces and improve the combat power of the security services in the country. According to this plan, subsequent phases aim to increase the numbers of Yemeni public security officers. There are now between 180,000 and 200,000. The second phase of the plan in 2003 included about 10,000 soldiers. In 2004 and 2005 were the third and fourth stages, which deployed more than 15,000 soldiers.
A source at the Ministry of Interior said that the launch of the fifth phase of the plan is associated with the graduation of security officers from scores of training courses in the Police Academy. These officers received masters’ degrees in security. “Raising the level of preparedness of the security forces is undoubtedly a decree according to a clear system of work seeking to achieve the objectives of the deployment of security forces in phases by the vision of a systematic and objective study of the realities of security in Yemen in general,” said the source in the Ministry of the Interior. “Each phase of the plan has strengthened the previous one, and the plan aims to achieve reduction in levels of crime of any kind, including the fight against terrorism and crimes of revenge,” he added.
