GENERAL SMITH DISCUSSES MIL-MIL COOPERATION WITH

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)

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Summary:
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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.

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You have our attention:
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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.

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The Strait's the thing!
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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."

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Joint Ops:
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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.

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We're in this together:
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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