SANAA: The authorities in Yemen boosted security in the capital yesterday a day before a visit by a UN Security Council delegation that is expected to focus on the impoverished country’s political transition.
An AFP journalist said the army and security forces put up new checkpoints around and inside Sanaa, where the right to bear arms has also been suspended temporarily.
An Interior Ministry statement said that for three days the traditional right to bear arms, as well as “the circulation of motorcycles” — which rebels often use in attacks — have been suspended.
The tightened security measures in the capital of the tribal Arabian Peninsula nation came ahead of the visit of a UN delegation due today.
Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi said the UN team will meet President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the national unity government formed after strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to cede power following a year-long uprising in 2011.
Meanwhile, unidentified attackers blew up Yemen’s main oil pipeline, forcing the country to shut down one of its most lucrative sources of income. Witnesses said the pipeline linking production fields in the central Maarib province to the Red Sea was attacked on Friday night.
“We heard a blast in the Sirwah area followed by flames rising from the pipeline,” one tribal witness told Reuters.
A government source said production was halted after a device placed under the pipeline exploded.
“The army is on the trail of the saboteurs and technical teams will immediately start repairing the damage,” the source said.
A long closure of the line last year forced the country’s largest refinery at Aden to shut, leaving the small producer dependent on fuel donations and imports.
On Dec. 31, Yemen resumed oil pumping at a rate of around 70,000 bpd after the latest repairs to a pipeline which used to carry around 110,000 bpd of Marib light crude to an export terminal on the Red Sea before a spate of attacks began in 2011.
Yemen ups security ahead of UN visit
