Houthis approve UN technical plan to assess decaying Yemen oil tanker
25/11/2020 10:03
By Lisa Barrington
DUBAI, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Houthi authorities in Yemen have
given long-awaited approval for a United Nations plan to visit
and assess a deteriorating oil tanker off Yemen's coast that is
threatening to spill 1.1 million barrels of crude oil into the
Red Sea.
Staff and equipment could be expected to arrive at the
tanker by late January or early February, U.N. spokesman
Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Tuesday.
Hussein al-Azzi, the Houthi deputy foreign minister, said on
Sunday Houthi authorities had sent a letter confirming they
would welcome the U.N. team of experts, adding they were waiting
for confirmation of an arrival date.
"It represents an important step forward in this critical
work," Dujarric said, adding the letter was received on
Saturday.
The United Nations has warned that the Safer, stranded since
2015, could spill four times as much oil as the 1989 Exxon
Valdez disaster near Alaska, but access to the vessel has been
complicated by the war in Yemen.
The Iran-aligned Houthi group, which controls the area where
the tanker is moored and the national oil firm that owns it,
agreed in July to allow a technical team to assess the ship and
conduct whatever repairs may be feasible. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2EJ03O
But final agreement on logistical arrangements did not
materialise.
Dujarric said the experts would assess the tanker and could
undertake light maintenance. The United Nations has a plan, but
now needs to procure equipment and permits which will take time,
he explained.
"The de facto authorities have assured us that they will
provide all the necessary facilitation to ensure that the expert
team can deploy as quickly as possible," he said.
The Safer, built in 1974, is moored off the Ras Issa oil
terminal, 60 km (40 miles) north of the port of Hodeidah.
The area is held by the Houthis, but the high seas are
controlled by a Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen in
2015 against the movement and has prevented it from selling oil.
U.N. and Houthi officials say water has entered the Safer's
engine room at least twice since 2015. The latest leak in May
was plugged by Safer Corp divers and Houthi naval units.
The United Nations says a major rupture could severely harm
Red Sea ecosystems and shut Hodeidah port, Yemen's main entry
point for imports and aid.
"The agreement to allow access to the SAFER tanker is
welcome (and overdue). Making it safe as soon as possible will
prevent a potentially huge environmental disaster," Britain's
ambassador to Yemen Michael Aron said on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Lisa Barrington, Editing by William Maclean)
((lisa.barrington@thomsonreuters.com;))