JEDDAH, 5 October 2006 - Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmed said yesterday that the government had released a large number of militants and extremists after they repented. "The releases are continuing," he added. "We are happy to say that the number of people released is more than those remaining in detention," Prince Ahmed told reporters at attending a ceremony in Riyadh to honor retired employees of the Interior Ministry. He also spoke about the Kingdom's efforts to win the release of all Saudi detainees in Guantanamo. "We are closely following the case of Guantanamo prisoners. We hope to close this chapter very soon." Prince Ahmed confirmed reports that Saudi Arabia was erecting a fence to prevent intrusion along its entire 560-km border with Iraq. "Such a fence is essential to prevent the spillover of violence," the minister said, adding that there was an understanding with the Iraqi Interior Ministry on this matter. The barrier, which likely will take five to six years to complete, is part of a $12 billion package of measures, including electronic sensors, bases and physical barriers, to protect the Kingdom from external threats, said Nawaf Obaid, head of the Saudi National Security Assessment Project, an independent research institute that provides security advice to the Saudi government. US and Iraqi officials have long complained about Saudi extremists crossing into Iraq -- mostly through Syria -- to join the battle against American and coalition forces. However, Obaid said improvements in border surveillance had sharply reduced the traffic going north. He said the Saudi government was more concerned -- at this point -- with infiltration into its territory from Iraq. "More importantly, the main issue is to seal the border on the Iraqi side since there has been almost no [Iraqi security] presence since the US invasion," Obaid said. In addition to political extremists, Saudi Arabia wants to prevent drug smugglers, weapons dealers and illegal migrants from using Iraq as an avenue into the Kingdom Obaid said. He said contracts for work on the fence, expected to cost about $500 million, have not been awarded and work is not expected to begin before next year. It is unclear whether the Saudis will build a fence across the entire Iraqi border -- virtually all barren desert -- or simply at key crossing points. Although the government in Riyadh has not released complete details of its plans, security experts familiar with the project said it would include electronic sensors and ultraviolet cameras capable of detecting any attempt to breach the fence. The Middle East Economic Digest, a regional news magazine, reported this month that it would contain a double-lined fence with 135 electronically controlled gates, fence-mounted ultraviolet intruder detection sensors, buried radio detection sensors and concertina razor wire along the entire, mostly desert, frontier.
