Germany training Saudi security forces amid ongoing gov't repression http://www.irna.ir/ENNewsShow.aspx?NID=30319973&SRCH=1

Germany's federal police (Bundespolizei) is training Saudi Arabian security forces amid Riyadh's brutal suppresssion of the pro-democracy movement, the Munich-based weekly news magazine Focus said Sunday. Headed by the German interior ministry, the highly controversial mission is to include the training of 3,500 officers, 600 instructors and some 28,500 military rank and file. There will be a total of 3,200 training sessions until 2015.Around 900 Saudis have already been trained by the end of last year, among them 250 officers.

The German government has allocated 20 million euros for training Saudi security forces. There are also plans to boost the size of the German federal police office in Riyadh from currently seven to 65 people, making it the second largest deployment of German federal police troopers abroad after Afghanistan. According to Focus, the German security cooperation with the Saudi regime has been kept top-secret.

[also see>Controversy mars German police deployment in Saudi Arabia http://www.irna.ir/ENNewsShow.aspx?NID=30318975&SRCH=1

 The Hamburg-based weekly news magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday linked the deployment of German elite police officers in Saudi Arabia to the signing of a major German-Saudi arms deal.