UN says $144 million needed to avert Yemen tanker disaster

The United Nations was seeking $144 million on Wednesday needed to fund the salvage operation of a decaying tanker full of oil moored off the coast of Yemen, a ship whose demise could cause an environmental disaster.

The amount includes $80 million to transfer the more than 1 million barrels of crude oil the FSO Safer is carrying to storage, said David Gressly, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Yemen.

The pledging conference, co-hosed by the U.N. and the Netherlands, comes more than two months after the U.N. and Yemen’s Houthi rebels reached an agreement to transfer the tanker’s contents to another vessel. The agreement also includes a U.N. commitment to provide within 18 months a “replacement equivalent to the FSO Safer suitable for export.”

The Iranian-backed Houthis control Yemen’s western Red Sea ports - including Ras Issa, just 6 kilometers (about 4 miles) from where the FSO Safer has been moored since the 1980s.

The Houthis on Tuesday criticized the U.N. for allegedly “not presenting an operational plan” to maintain the tanker, more than two months since they signed the memorandum of understanding, a statement that could complicate U.N. efforts to raise funds.

There was no immediate comment from the U.N. on the Houthi statement but the organization previously accused the rebels of delaying its maintenance plans. (AP)