January24, 2007: Yemen is spending $26 million to start building a coastal radar system. This first installment will consist of 14 radars (two of them mobile), six smaller control centers and a central control center. This system will cover about a quarter of Yemen's 1,900 kilometer long coastline. But the sector covered is the one, on the Red Sea, facing Eritrea and Somalia, that is most in need of observation. Here there is rampant smuggling, including the movement of illegal migrants from Africa, and weapons into Africa. Piracy is also a growing problem, as well as Islamic terrorists moving by sea, to avoid the police ashore.

If the firm providing the equipment and training (Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica) is successful (Yemen is a difficult place to do business), the radar system would be extended to cover the entire coast.