Yemen authorities ‘ready’ for UN mission to repair tanker
SANAA: Yemen’s Ansar Allah said on Wednesday they are “ready” to allow a UN mission to inspect a long-abandoned fuel tanker which threatens to cause a massive oil spill, denying UN allegations of new delaying tactics.
The 45-year-old fuel vessel, abandoned near the western port of Hodeida since 2015, has 1.1 million barrels of crude on board, and a rupture or explosion would have disastrous environmental and humanitarian consequences.
“There is nothing new, no problems and no delays,” Ahmed Dares, an official responsible for oil affairs, said.
He said they were “ready for maintenance operations” to commence in March, as previously announced by the United Nations.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday that they had yet to receive documents needed for the mission to inspect and repair the FSO Safer, initially planned for early last year and repeatedly delayed.
“To facilitate the leasing of technically equipped service vessels, which are required for the mission, we have requested the authorities to provide a letter with security assurances,” he said in a statement.
“We regret that, to date, we have not received a response to our multiple requests for this letter, the lack of which would increase the cost of the mission by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“We are also very concerned by indications that the authorities are considering a ‘review’ of their formal approval of the mission to deploy.”
Dujarric said that Ansar Allah officials had told the UN to pause certain preparations for the mission, for which the world body had allocated $3.35 million, while they consider a review.
“In light of these challenges, the timeline of deployment of the mission remains uncertain,” he said.