MOI ALIMI: WE GOT THE SA/LW MESSAGE

S E C R E T SANAA 000651 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2015 TAGS: PREL ETTC PARM PHUM IZ SA YM SUBJECT: MOI ALIMI: WE GOT THE SA/LW MESSAGE REF: A. SANAA 564 ¶B. SANAA 580 Classified By: CDA N. Khoury for reasons 1.4 (b. and d.) ¶1. (S) On March 16, Ambassador and DCM briefed Minister of Interior Rashad al-Alimi on the March 10 conversation with President Saleh concerning SA/LW (reftel A). Alimi replied that the ROYG shares U.S. concerns over this issue and confirmed that his Ministry received a copy of the President's letter canceling old end-user certificates and directing that all arms purchases be henceforth made through ROYG officials (reftel B). Noting that FM Qirbi had tried to limit private arms sales before, Alimi said that political will exists today to work to dry up the illegal inflow, outflow of weapons in Yemen ¶2. (S) Turning to Saudi-Yemen border cooperation, Alimi said that on his recent visit, Saudi Minister of Interior Prince Naif promised that KSA would spend seven billion Saudi Riyals (1.8 billion USD) to enhance border security between the two nations. The plan envisions parallel roads on both sides of the fence and observation towers. In some areas, where no one lives, the entire border would be closed. As a result of the Naif trip, Alimi said that the Yemenis will be returning 24 imprisoned Saudis to KSA who were believed to have had links to al-Qaida or were intending to travel illegally to Iraq. Alimi added that the ROYG told Naif that they were tired of hearing KSA complaints over weapon smuggling from Yemen, the ROYG wanted Saudi action and help. Commenting that their Gulf neighbors did not show much understanding of Yemen's predicament, Alimi said that the weapons problem was deeply rooted in the country's poverty, unemployment and years of depending on smuggling for livelihood. Alimi did say, however, that with proper resolve and assistance, Yemen could resolve this problem once and for all. Krajeski