AL-MUKALLA: Local security authorities in Yemen’s eastern province of Al-Mahra and the southern province of Lahj have outlawed the carrying of firearms on the street in an effort to stem rising rates of crime and lawlessness.
Mohammed Ali Yasser, the governor of Al-Mahra, launched a security operation on Sunday to ban the carrying of firearms in public and prohibit the use of weapons during weddings in the province’s capital and other locations.
Local security officials urged people in the province to obey the restriction and avoid parading around the streets with firearms, while security troops were deployed to enforce the ban at city entrances and streets.
The crackdown on firearms in Al-Mahra followed a similar operation by security forces in the province of Lahj to curb the proliferation of unlicensed weapons and put an end to fatal shootings and other crimes attributed to the uncontrolled possession of firearms.
Security and military personnel, as well as combatants returning home from the battlefield, will be prohibited from carrying firearms in public the province’s capital, Huta, and other cities in Lahj.
This comes as security officials in Yemen’s interim capital, Aden, confirmed the seizure of dozens of AK47 assault weapons during the drive to impose the ban on carrying weaponry.
Clashes between armed men are a frequent occurrence in Aden, Lahj and other Yemeni cities, where shops openly sell various types of guns and ammunition.
Despite adopting legislation and cracking down on weapons sales across the country, successive Yemeni governments have failed to disarm the mostly tribal Yemeni population for almost three decades. It has long been assumed that every Yemeni home possesses more than one firearm.
Critics maintain that security crackdowns on carrying weapons are typically short-lived and designed to assuage public outrage over the killing of civilians.
In Lahj, critics say that the security forces have announced a ban on weapons in various provinces at least three times since the beginning of 2016, following the retaking of Huta and neighboring areas from Al-Qaeda.
Meanwhile, local officials and media said a mother and her son were killed in an area between Taiz and Lahj by Houthi shelling.
The Houthis launched a barrage of mortar rounds at a village in Hayfan, north of Lahj, over the weekend. One of the shells ripped through Mukhtar Al-Roba’s home, killing his wife and son as they ate supper.
