Aden: Yemen, a country struggling with an upsurge in violence from Al Qaida fighters and separatist movements, will be the host for a regional football tournament starting on Monday that offers authorities a rare chance to prove it is capable of hosting international events.
Security was extremely tight on Sunday as all eight teams began arriving for the Gulf Cup, which runs until December 4 in the southern port city of Aden. Some football federations early on had suggested the tournament might not happen because of safety concerns and worries that hotels and football facilities would not be ready.
Dozens of checkpoints were set up across Aden and security forces established three rings of security around the city. Armoured vehicles could be seen positioned just outside the city.
Gamal Al Yamani, a board member of the committee organising the tournament in Aden, said there were upward of 30,000 troops protecting the teams and that a joint American-British security team checked all the stadiums to ensure they were safe. Each delegation has a security team and are escorted to and from stadiums and training sites by police vehicles, he said.
"The brotherly Arabian Gulf delegations were surprised with the level of security and safety in Aden," Al Yamani said. "Fear-mongering didn't work."
Teams seemed to be relieved with the extensive security and on Sunday were shifting their focus to preparing for training ahead of their first matches. Yemen opens the tournament against Saudi Arabia at the May 22 stadium followed by a match between Qatar and Kuwait.
Fans were already streaming into Aden, with hundreds of cars crossing the border between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Others cars flying flags from Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia could be seen making their way amid heavy traffic in Aden.
"Everything is excellent. Everything is fine," said Rashid Al Zaabi, a spokesman for the UAE Football Association in Aden, whose team has its first match against Iraq Tuesday. "There are no problems. Everything is under control."
But not everyone was convinced. Several referees from Bulgaria, Russia and France pulled out of the tournament at the last minute, organisers said.
A group of hardline Muslim clerics in Yemen also issued a statement on Sunday criticizing the Gulf Cup, calling it "lecherous and immoral."
The statement said the gender mixing, dancing and the alcohol that will be imported for the event goes against the spirit of a Muslim country.
The tournament draw in August prompted leaders of a separatist movement in southern Yemen to demand that the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq boycott the competition. The Supreme Council of the Southern Movement said that participating in the 20th Gulf Cup would lend support to Yemen's government at a time when "the south is bleeding."
There also are almost daily clashes between the military and suspected Al Qaida gunmen, including an attack by suspected militants last month that killed a security chief of a southern Yemeni town and triggered a series of clashes between soldiers and militants that killed eight people, mostly government troops.
No group has threatened to attack the tournament or the teams. But sports teams and events have been among those terrorists recently have targeted in other countries.
