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Qatar beefs up security ahead of 2022 FIFA World Cup

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Qatar has beefed up security measures to ensure safety of the upcoming the 2022 FIFA World Cup scheduled for November 20 to December 18 in the country.

Safety and security of the eight stadiums being used for the World Cup in Qatar this year will be overseen in a centralized, state-of-the-art command center for potential risks of crowd control problems.

Thousands of personnel from around the world will be on the ground to assist football fans and players navigate their way around the country.

When millions of football fans arrive in Qatar for the World Cup, their every move and movements will be monitored by more than 15,000 cameras around the eight stadiums. Any potential problems such as overcrowding or crowd trouble will be picked up remotely.

In addition, there is a digital command center connected to all the stadiums to monitor the real-time conditions of each stadium, and remotely control various electronic facilities, which will help detect various accidents and equipment failures in real time and issue early warnings for dangerous situations so that rapid response measures can be initiated.

The government says the World Cup security will be a joint effort by friends of Qatar from around the world.

“We also have an agreement that has been signed with Interpol with different international policing from a mega events perspective, so we make sure that there is a knowledge transfer that is happening from people who hosted previous events, and it’ll transfer to our workforce,” said Fatma Al Nuaimi, communications director of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy.

International assistance

To make up for the lack of security manpower, Qatar has also signed security cooperation agreements with Pakistan and Turkey. During the World Cup, these countries will send armed forces to Qatar to help it build an international joint security force.

On the ground, Kenyans will be among thousands of security officials that will secure the World Cup.

“We have Kenyans who are working in the management for the people participating as marshals. We have people participating as stewards, people are showing the spectators directions. So as Kenyans, of course, we are ever excited when opportunities come this way, and being part of this family, we really appreciate that our country has a good MOU, like a memorandum of understanding with the country that has given us opportunities and visas to come and work in Qatar,” said Patrick Mugere, a Kenyan expatriate in Qatar.

At the metro stations across Doha, hundreds of Kenyans are also in charge of security and safety of the metro as well as thousands of daily users.

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