Saudi Arabia and UK Lead Effort to Revitalize Yemen's Coast Guard
Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom have launched an international partnership to revitalize the Yemeni Coastguard, with the aim of improving security in the Red Sea and Bab el Mandeb.
At a conference held in Riyadh attended by 35 countries, the Yemen Maritime Security Partnership was established to provide funding training equipment and support for Yemen’s Coastguard. The initiative is to be supported by a permanent secretariat, the Technical Assistance Fund For Yemen (TAFFY). Saudi Arabia is putting forward $4 million immediately as seed funding, and the UK with assistance from the Welsh government is to provide technical assistance and support for TAFFY during the implementation phase. TAFFY also has ambitions to take on wider government capability-building tasks.
The UK had announced a package of support for the Yemeni Coastguard in November last year, comprised of fast patrol boats, training, and assistance. The UK has had a long-term interest in nurturing the Yemeni Coastguard since it was founded in 2003, having provided assistance in building its information and communications structure before the organization crumpled as the civil war in Yemen worsened. A cadre of 30 coastguard officers are currently undergoing a two-year English language training course sponsored by the British Embassy in Yemen.
The 35 Countries who attended the conference included Australia, Canada, Japan, and the United States, as well as GCC nations and the European Union. A significant conference attendee was Oman, who in the past has mediated the release of sailors held hostage by the Houthis. The breadth of participation suggests the forum could develop utility in solving broader issues of security in the Red Sea.
In June last year, Major General Tariq Saleh held discussions with the chief of the Coast Guard Service, Major General Khaled Al-Qamali on how to improve cooperation. The General’s National Resistance Forces have made several high-value interceptions of inbound Houthi arms in the Red Sea.
The effort to nurture the effectiveness of the Yemeni Coastguard and to develop a homegrown solution is in part an acknowledgement of the difficulties of providing protection for merchant shipping in the Red Sea and Bab el Mandeb using conventional naval forces. Although the separate EU and US led naval forces have had some success when deployed in areas under attack, it has proven impossible to provide sufficient coverage to protect all merchant shipping - and also extremely expensive. The success of the National Resistance Forces in making interceptions at sea is an encouragement to adopt non-military approaches to policing the problem, employing small craft, local knowledge and intelligence.