UN thanks KSA for $10m donation to rescue Yemen oil tanker
SMA NEWS – RYIADH
The UN thanked Saudi Arabia on Sunday for donating $10 million to efforts to maintain the decaying Safer oil tanker in Yemen, as the country’s officials and analysts called for more aggressive pressure on the Iran-backed Houthis to facilitate the arrival of UN teams to the vessel.
The UN plan aims to defuse a potential major environmental catastrophe in the Red Sea if the tanker explodes or leaks. Russell Geekie, communication officer for David Gressly, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, told Arab News that the Saudi donation reduces the funding gap, but that further funds are needed from donors to help the UN implement its plan.
“We thank all donors that have pledged or contributed and very much welcome the announcements by the Kingdom today and the US last week. This reduces the funding gap, but a gap remains. We still urgently need funds to start the emergency operation before it is too late,” Geekie said.
Carrying more than 1.1 million barrels of oil, the 45-year-old Safer oil tanker has been left abandoned off Yemen’s western province of Hodeidah since 2015, when international engineers fled the country after the Houthis seized control of Hodeidah during their military expansion across the country.
Confirmed reports of rust damaging parts of the tanker have sparked local and international warnings of a potential major ecological disaster in the Red Sea.
