US general praises military cooperation with Yemen
Yemen-USA, Politics, 4/27/1999

Commander in Chief of the U.S. Central Command, General Anthony Zinni, said yesterday in Sanaa, Yemen, that military cooperation with Yemen "has gone very well."

He said that training of Yemeni soldiers in demining has been received positively, "Everybody has made excellent comments about the quality of the training, and the effort and skills of the young Yemeni soldiers in the performance of their duties down there."

He added, "I know in the other areas we've worked in, in the joint training, and in the conferences that we've held, and in several of the other programs we've begun, that the mutual respect that our militaries have had for each other, and the warmth of feeling, has really been encouraging, and everybody has been very happy with the progress that we've made."

He said that Yemeni soldiers would begin actual demining in mid-May.

Zinni denied that the US cooperation is aimed at paving the way for the creation of a US military base in Yemen, saying, "We have no intentions of asking for military bases. We have no requirements for military bases in this region. We are satisfied that the military to military relationship and cooperation that we are building meets our mutual interests, and there are no plans, no intentions and no requests for any basing, Socotra, here, anywhere."

He indicated that the US plans to increase its military cooperation with Yemen, saying, "We would like to take our time, but steadily progress on a more expanded joint-exercise program with U.S. forces and Yemeni forces. "

Zinni said that beyond the demining training there are other areas in which the US military is cooperating with Yemen, "We are looking at a program that might help in some small way to begin with, to assist where problems areas may be in maintenance and other things. We have done some work beyond the humanitarian demining in the port, with our demolitions expert to help clear some of the ships that were blocking the channel down there. There are still some more problems like that, and we are looking at how we can assist to maybe further that."

Previous Stories:
  US Middle East defense forces commander to visit Yemen for establishing a US military base   (4/26/1999)
  US land mine experts come back to Yemen   (3/24/1999)
  Ali Saleh stresses the importance of strategic dialogue with Washington   (2/5/1999)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search