News - Yemen: The Supervisory Committee for the Implementation of the Urgent Maintenance Agreement and the Comprehensive Assessment of the Safer Floating Reservoir met with the Security Coordinator in the Office of the United Nations Resident Representative, Dahabi Ould Sidi Mohamed, and the Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, William David Grisley.

In the meeting, the committee expressed its astonishment at the delay in starting the process of replacing the floating tank Safer in accordance with the memorandum, especially after the United Nations collected the necessary funds for the project.

The committee called on the UN’s side to expedite the delivery of the operational plan and to move forward with the implementation of the solution.

For his part, the Security Coordinator at the Office of the Resident Representative of the United Nations confirmed that the delay was due to some problems that the United Nations faced during the last period.

At the same regard, he praised the positive role of the National Salvation Government and the supervisory committee for implementing the urgent maintenance agreement in preventing an environmental disaster in the Red Sea.

The two sides indicated that the process of replacing the tank will be implemented in a single phase, in accordance with the contents of the memorandum signed on the fifth of last March.

Earlier, the Supervisory Committee for the Implementation of the Urgent Maintenance Agreement and the Comprehensive Evaluation of the Safer Floating Reservoir held a video meeting with the Resident Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen, David Grisley, to discuss accelerating the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding to resolve the issue of the Safer Floating Reservoir.

The committee stressed that time has become a decisive factor in preventing an environmental disaster in the Red Sea due to the continued deteriorating situation of the Safer Floating Reservoir.

For his part, Grisley indicated that $82 million of the necessary funds had been collected to implement the memorandum of understanding signed on March 5, 2022.

In the meeting, they decided to start the process of providing an alternative tank equivalent to the floating tank Safer, which will permanently replace it, as work will start during the next few days.

Over the past two decades, the marine environment in Yemen has been exposed to many environmental threats and disasters caused by oil and fuel storage tanks, through the spillage and leakage of thousands of tons of oil and mazut into Yemeni territorial waters. This led to the pollution of large areas of beaches with oil spots and black foam, and the death of large quantities of fish and marine life.

With the continuation of the US-Saudi aggression against Yemen for eight years, the beaches and seas of Yemen are exposed to more dangerous threats, which no longer enjoy any government sovereignty.

More than once, local media reported pictures documenting the unprecedented proliferation of dangerous oil and non-oil vehicles, in the complete absence of government authorities in the occupied areas.