News – Yemen: Member of the National Delegation revealed that the United Nations had retreated from the general framework that had been reached for the urgent maintenance and comprehensive evaluation of the floating oil storage and offloading vessel that is moored in the Red Sea north of the Yemeni city of Hodeidah, FSO Safer.

On November, 2020, an official source in the Supreme Economic Committee announced that an urgent maintenance agreement and a comprehensive evaluation of the Safer floating tank had been signed with the United Nations after technical discussions between the national advisory team for the floating tank Safer, the UN envoy's office and the team of the United Nations Office for Project Services.

A while after, the official committee in Sana'a, responsible for facilitating UN efforts to execute a comprehensive evaluation of the floating tank, announced that the United Nations failed to expedite the implementation of the agreement. It reached a dead end after the UN side overthrew most of the terms of the agreement signed by them and the National Salvation Government.

In statements to Almasirah, Abdulmalik Al-Ajri indicated that the UN retreat stems from the complete submission to the US-Saudi aggression's agenda, as the coalition of aggression seeks to disrupt the Safer ship after the war.

"The US-Saudi aggression is keen to obstruct the maintenance of the Safer ship," he added.

A week ago, the Supervisory Committee for the Implementation of the Safer Agreement expressed its deep regret over the non-compliance of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) with the agreement signed in November 2020.

"The UNOPS insists on wasting time and funds allocated to the project in fruitless meetings and discussions," the Committee said.

The Supervisory Committee for the Implementation of the Safer Agreement indicated that the situation of the Safer Floating Tank has become worse than it was when the agreement was signed, and that the chances of an environmental disaster in the Red Sea have increased.

It called on the United Nations to review the text of the agreement and the plan submitted by its Office for Project Services to correct it, otherwise it will bear full responsibility for the imminent environmental catastrophe in the Red Sea and the resulting great damage to Yemen and neighboring countries. It stressed that the situation of the oil tank needs urgent action and seriousness to avoid a potential disaster, because time no longer allows for procrastination.

The Committee urged the United Nations to deal with the agreement for the maintenance and evaluation of the Safer Floating Tank with responsibility and a quick response that would put the agreement back on track.

Meanwhile, an abandoned oil tanker has sunk off Yemen's southern coast spilling out fuel into the Gulf of Aden and along the country. Reports indicated that the vessel is one of several dilapidated tankers in the same area all likely abandoned and in need of maintenance.