US embassy cable - 04SANAA2506

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 002506 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2010 
TAGS: PINR, PREL, PTER, YE, COUNTER TERRORISM, MARITIME SECURITY 
SUBJECT: GENERAL SMITH DISCUSSES MIL-MIL COOPERATION WITH 
MOI AND MOD 
 
Classified By: DCM NABEEL KHOURY, FOR REASONS 1.4 (a) AND (d) 
 
------- 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
1 (S) General Lance Smith paid a visit, September 22, to 
Sanaa and met in a joint session with Minister of Interior 
Allimi and MOD Chief of Staff General Qassemi. Discussion 
focused on military cooperation between the U.S. and Yemen in 
light of the recently concluded fighting in Sa'da  and the 
need to elevate that cooperation to meet the various regional 
challenges. Both ministers confirmed requests made before the 
fighting ended and stressed maritime challenges particularly 
in the Straits of Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea. Practical 
steps were suggested to set up a joint operations center to 
monitor and react to maritime threats. General Helland and 
General Qassemi agreed to take the issue in their next 
meeting. End Summary. 
 
----------------------- 
You have our attention: 
----------------------- 
 
2. (S) General Smith, in a joint session with MOI and MOD, 
September 22, opened with an overview of challenges Centcom 
was facing in Afghanistan and Iraq. Without underestimating 
the challenges, he stressed that we were on the right course 
and commended Iraqi PM Allawi's leadership and policies in 
trying to reach an Iraqi solution to the security obstacles 
in the path of planned democratic elections in January. 
General Smith then turned to Yemen and told his interlocutors 
that General Abizaid's and A/S Bloomfield's recent visits to 
Sanaa, coupled with Post's efforts, have raised Yemen's 
profile in Washington and that requests for increased 
military cooperation are receiving very favorable and high 
level attention in Washington. The General noted American 
officials' sensitivity to casualties and difficulties 
suffered by the ROYG in recent fighting in the Sa'da region 
and congratulated the Yemeni armed and special forces on 
recent successes in quelling the rebellion. General Smith 
concluded that the U.S. and Yemen faced common threats from 
international terrorism and that the U.S. was ready to help 
raise the level of cooperation in this regard. 
 
----------------------- 
The Strait's the thing! 
----------------------- 
 
3. (S) Minister of Interior Allimi, thanking General Smith 
for U.S. friendship and assistance, said that U.S.-Yemeni 
cooperation was needed more than ever in the aftermath of the 
Sa'da fighting. "We will certainly continue to face internal 
challenges," said Allimi, "but we'd like to turn your 
attention to our small Coast Guard (CG) and the large 
challenges it is facing in the Straits, coming mainly from 
our neighbors across the Red Sea." Allimi said that incidents 
of piracy, illegal immigration and drug trafficking have 
risen to alarming rates and could bring with them untold 
dangers in terms of terrorist infiltration and reestablishing 
of cells already destroyed by U.S.-Yemeni cooperation over 
the past three years. "I am afraid," said the Minister, "all 
the good work we have done over the past few years could be 
rolled back if we don't do something quickly about the rising 
threat from the sea." Allimi said that boats were regularly 
dumping illegal immigrants coming mainly from the Somali 
coast and that only some of those are being caught and 
interrogated before being returned. "Many are simply poor and 
seek jobs but others are here for drug-trafficking, 
prostitution and arms smuggling. The situation is ripe for 
exploitation by new terrorist cells and criminals." 
 
4. (S) MOD Chief of Staff, General Qassemi, joined in to 
support his colleague's plea for maritime cooperation and 
assistance saying that the Yemeni CG has been able to detect 
smuggling and dumping of illegal aliens but usually too late 
to stop operations and, in any case, lacked the weaponry to 
intervene effectively. "With all the Coalition naval vessels 
in the area, you would be in a much better position, not only 
to alert us but also to interdict and stop these boats," said 
Qassemi. "Perhaps," added Qassemi, "if you stop a few, others 
would get the message that they can't get away with this any 
more." 
 
---------- 
Joint Ops: 
---------- 
 
5. (S) Both Allimi and Qassemi offered that a joint 
operations center should be set up, either on Yemeni soil or 
elsewhere (perhaps Djibouti) so that U.S. and Yemeni forces 
could monitor and jointly react to piracy, smuggling and 
possible infiltration by terrorists trying to use Yemen as a 
safe-haven or base. "At a minimum," stressed Allimi, "Yemeni 
CG needs to be able to communicate with U.S. ships in the 
region to alert and be alerted by them to approaching illegal 
or hostile boats." Qassemi suggested that practical steps 
ought to be taken to translate what is clearly a common 
interest for the U.S. and Yemen into an actionable strategy. 
 
---------------------- 
We're in this together: 
---------------------- 
 
6. (S) General Smith agreed with his Yemeni hosts and said 
that he had no problem with the maritime coordination being 
proposed. General Helland, also participating in the meeting, 
said that he would be willing, on his next visit to Sanaa, to 
sit down for a working level meeting with General Qassemi and 
Minister Allimi to discuss the proposal in detail. The 
meeting ended with General Smith assuring Allimi and Qassemi 
that "we're all in this together" and that the U.S. and Yemen 
shared common threats and a common goal of dealing with 
security challenges in order to allow for the implementation 
of the broader, more important long-term goal, of democracy 
and development. 
 
7. (S) Generals Smith and Helland concluded their visit by 
attending a live-fire demonstration by CSF forces of a 
take-down of a sheltered target. Under the supervision of 
their CJTF (HOA) CT trainers, a CSF platoon went through 
their exercises flawlessly and were commended by the visiting 
U.S. Generals. Colonel Yahya Saleh, the head of CSF, thanked 
Generals Smith and Helland for the training which, he said, 
saved many lives in the recent take-down of rebel al-Houthy. 
 
KRAJESKI