From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Jun 29 2010 - 12:40:02 EDT
Yemen builds coastguard base in strategic strait
Tues Jun 29, 2010 2:16pm GMT
* Coastguard station to protect Bab al-Mandab shipping
* Base to be located on Miyoun Island
* Construction began at start of year
SANAA, June 29 (Reuters) - Yemen is building a coastguard base on an island
in the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait to protect traffic in the crucial
shipping lane that links Europe and Asia, the Yemeni coastguard said on
Sunday.
Yemen, at the forefront of Western security concerns since a failed al Qaeda
attack on a U.S.-bound plane in December, boosted security at coastal
facilities earlier this year to guard against possible militant attacks.
In February, the Yemen-based wing of al Qaeda called for a blockade of the
strait, where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden, to cut off U.S. shipments
to Israel.
Somali pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean also have
stepped up attacks in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars in
ransoms from seizing ships, including tankers and dry bulkers.
The base will be located on the island of Miyoun -- previously known as
Perim -- and construction began at the start of the year, a coastguard
source told Reuters.
"The station will protect the movements of ships in the Bab al-Mandab
strait," the source said on condition of anonymity, without giving further
details.
Yemen's location at the southern rim of the Arabian Peninsula places it near
one of the world's busiest shipping corridors that leads to the Suez Canal.
More than 3 million barrels of oil pass through the Bab al-Mandab strait
daily from the Gulf on its way to Europe and the United States. Western
allies and neighbouring oil exporter Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is
exploiting instability on several fronts in impoverished Yemen to recruit
and train militants for attacks in the region and beyond.
Militants bombed the U.S. Navy warship USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden
in 2000. Two years later an al Qaeda attack damaged the French supertanker
Limburg in the Gulf of Aden.
(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by
Michael Roddy)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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