Can a UN-coordinated Dutch-American plan defuse the ticking Safer ‘time bomb?’

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Updated 13 June 2022
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Can a UN-coordinated Dutch-American plan defuse the ticking Safer ‘time bomb?’

  • The objective is to raise $144 million, of which $80 million will pay for offloading the vessel’s cargo of oil
  • Time is of the essence if the plan, consisting of two simultaneous tracks, is to prove successful

JEDDAH: The saga of the Safer continues with an attempt by the UN to raise funds to salvage the stricken vessel that has been anchored close to Yemen’s Red Sea coast since 1988.

The plan is to raise $144 million, of which $80 million will pay for offloading the cargo of oil on board the Safer. To this end, the governments of the US and the Netherlands, represented by Dutch Ambassador to the US Andre Haspels, jointly hosted a meeting on Friday that was attended by Tim Lenderking, the US special envoy for Yemen, and representatives from the diplomatic community in Washington.

“We urge public and private donors to consider generous contributions to help prevent a leak, spill or explosion, whose effects would destroy livelihoods, tourism and commerce in one of the world’s vital shipping lanes,” a joint statement read, referring to the abandoned vessel.

The UN-coordinated plan’s objective is to avert an economic, humanitarian and environmental catastrophe that could affect not just Yemen, where 17 million people depend on humanitarian aid, but the wider region as well.

“The Safer is a ticking time bomb and it’s time to resolve the problem,” political analyst Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri told Arab News.

“The vessel has been lying around for seven years unattended. It is the international community’s responsibility to put pressure on the Houthis on all levels to resolve the many issues confronting Yemen and Yemenis, including the Safer dispute.”

The ship, decaying off the port of Ras Isa in the absence of any maintenance, is believed to contain 1.1 million barrels of oil — four times the amount that leaked into Alaska’s Prince William Sound as a result of the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.

Commissioned in 1976 as an oil tanker and converted a decade later into a floating storage and offloading (FSO) facility, the Safer ceased production, offloading and maintenance in 2015 with the eruption of war and the capture of western Yemen by the Houthis.

The ship is currently moored about 4.8 nautical miles off the coast of Yemen’s Hodeidah governorate. Given the steady deterioration in its structural integrity, there is an imminent risk of an oil spill owing to leakage or explosion.




Damage to the Safer (above) has raised fears of an imminent oil spill owing to leakage or explosion. (AFP/File Photo)

In March, after years of on-again, off-again talks between the major parties concerned, the Iran-aligned Houthis apparently agreed to allow the UN to offload the oil stored in barrels on the Safer. Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, the head of the Houthis’ Supreme Revolutionary Committee, confirmed the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the UN via Twitter.

The UN-coordinated plan, which is backed by the Yemeni government, consists of two simultaneously operative tracks. The first involves the installation of a long-term replacement for the Safer within an 18-month period, while the second entails the transfer of the cargo of oil to a temporary vessel over a period of four months.

The UN intends to keep the Safer and the temporary vessel in place until all the oil is transferred to the permanent replacement vessel. Afterwards, the rusting vessel would be towed to a yard and sold for scrap.

In April, Lenderking, Dutch Ambassador to Yemen Peter Derrek Hoff and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen David Gressly toured the region as part of a UN-led mission to raise awareness of the threat posed by the Safer and raise funds for the UN plan.

A month later, a scheme devised by Gressly to oversee the UN’s attempts to raise $80 million from donors began. So far, however, the world body has been able to raise only $40 million.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on the salvage plan.

INNUMBERS

* 181 million - Liters of oil stored in the decaying FSO Safer.

* 1.7 million - People in fishing industry in harm’s way in event of leak or explosion.

“If we do not receive sufficient funding urgently, the weather window to transfer the oil will close,” Auke Lootsma, resident representative of the UN Development Program in Yemen, said.

“By October, high winds and volatile currents make the operation more dangerous and increase the risk of the ship breaking up.”

A massive oil spill from the Safer would devastate fishing communities on the Red Sea coast and wreak havoc on the water, reefs and mangroves of the littoral states, notably Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, and Yemen itself.

It would also lead to the disruption or even closure of the ports of Hodeidah and As Salif, which would greatly hinder commercial activity across Yemen and the country’s ability to receive humanitarian aid.

In any event, the cost of cleanup alone is expected to be $20 million.

“When the Houthis seized power in that part of Yemen in 2015, they took over the Safer but they lacked the know-how to maintain it,” Al-Shehri said. “Since then, they have been using the alarming structural state of the vessel as a bargaining chip, with the goal of grabbing the proceeds of the oil sold in the market or selling the oil in the black market for further gain.”




Representatives from Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Sudan and Yemen sent a letter in 2020 addressed to the president of the Security Council, drawing attention to the risks the floating cargo posed to the region. (Reuters/File Photo)

He added: “With regard to the Safer, the Houthis will not agree to do the right thing easily, but with pressure they might. This would prevent a catastrophe whose repercussions would be felt thousands of miles away. The flow of humanitarian aid through the vital shipping lanes of the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait would be disrupted.”

Having said that, Al-Shehri cited two developments — the signing of the memorandum between the Houthis and the two-month ceasefire currently in force, the first nationwide truce since 2016 — as auguring well for the future of Yemen. In his opinion, the opening of the road to Taiz could help put an end to ongoing factional feuds and, with luck, even to the Houthi occupation.

“But to truly show their good intentions, the Houthis must cooperate with the international community and the legitimate government of Yemen plus its people and regional neighbors. They must also stop using the ship for political leverage,” he said.

“If the Houthis don’t show this spirit of cooperation, this would have dire consequences not only for Yemen but the entire region.”

Significantly, the UN ambassadors of Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen sent a letter in 2020 addressed to the president of the Security Council, drawing attention to the risks the floating cargo posed to the region and calling for immediate action to stave off two nightmare scenarios.




The external piping system of the FSO Safer and the hose failure that led to a spill, moored off Ras Issa port, Yemen. (AFP/File Photo)

The first would be the ecological disaster resulting from the spillage of 181 million liters into the marine life-rich Red Sea. The second would be the havoc caused by dark clouds of toxic gases released by an explosion. In addition to damage to the health of some 3 million people in Hodeidah, 4 percent of productive agricultural lands in Yemen would suffer destruction of standing crops of beans, fruits and vegetables to the tune of more than $70 million.

The spill could lead to the closure of Hodeidah port for several months, which in turn would prevent the delivery of much-needed fuel and essential goods to the local population, cause fuel prices to soar by up to 800 percent and double the cost of goods in an already poverty-stricken nation.

Expectedly, a statement issued by the UN and the Netherlands government on May 11 made it clear that the timing and funding of the oil spill-prevention plan were of the essence.

And in comments to the media on Wednesday, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, said: “We know what the consequences are, we know the danger that is there, and we have encouraged others to contribute to the funding to this effort. But let’s be clear: The problem with the Safer is the Houthis, who have not allowed even the UN or others (access to inspect the ship.)”

Suggesting that the onus is on the Houthis to prove their sincerity, she added: “We can get all the money in the world, (but if) they don’t allow access, then we are still in the same place where we started. So, it is a two-pronged effort to get this (job) done.”

In the same vein, Dr. Al-Shehri points out that a settlement of the Safer standoff has been a long-standing priority of the regional actors, notably Saudi Arabia, which has been calling for a resolution of the many issues keeping Yemen embroiled in pointless conflict.

“The international community is responsible for all the chaos,” he told Arab News. “Its passive attitude is interpreted by the Houthis as a green light for continuing with their activities, so only the international community can, and must, resolve this matter once and for all. The solution is in its hands.”

 


UAE and Jordan condemn terror attack on Pakistani military convoy that killed 13 soldiers

Updated 11 sec ago
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UAE and Jordan condemn terror attack on Pakistani military convoy that killed 13 soldiers

  • A further 24 people were injured, 14 of them civilians, when a car bomb exploded near a bomb-disposal vehicle in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday
  • Emirati Foreign Ministry sends condolences to families of the victims and the people of Pakistan following the ‘cowardly attack’

LONDON: Authorities in the UAE and Jordan have strongly condemned a terrorist attack on a military convoy in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan in which 13 soldiers were killed and at least 24 people were injured.

The Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent its condolences to the families of the victims, and all the people of Pakistan, following the “heinous and cowardly attack,” along its best wishes for a speedy recovery of those who were injured.

It added that the UAE firmly rejects all forms of terrorism and violence that undermine security and stability.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry similarly condemned the attack and expressed its solidarity with Pakistan during this terrible time.

A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into the military convoy on Saturday and it detonated near a bomb disposal vehicle. Of the 24 people who were injured, 14 are civilians.

Armed group Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. It was one of the deadliest, single-day incidents in recent months targeting security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.


Qatari emir, Spanish king meet on sidelines of UN investment conference in Seville

Updated 30 June 2025
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Qatari emir, Spanish king meet on sidelines of UN investment conference in Seville

  • King Felipe expressed his desire to strengthen relations and support joint investments with Qatar
  • He reiterated Spain’s solidarity with Qatar and condemned the Iranian attack on Al-Udeid Air Base last week

LONDON: Qatari emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, met King Felipe VI of Spain in Seville on the sidelines of a UN-organized international investment conference.

The 4th International Conference on Financing for Development began on Monday and will continue until July 3, bringing together global leaders to discuss urgent reforms necessary for financing sustainable development.

King Felipe expressed his desire to strengthen relations and support joint investments through small and medium-sized enterprises following the recent economic agreements between Qatar and Spain.

He also reiterated Spain’s solidarity with Qatar and condemned the Iranian attack on Al-Udeid Air Base last week, praising Doha’s role in facilitating a ceasefire agreement between Iran and Israel.

Sheikh Tamim emphasized Qatar’s commitment to enhancing cooperation with Spain across cultural, educational and security fields to serve the common interests of both countries, the Qatar News Agency reported.


Israeli settlers hold wedding ceremony inside Al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection

Updated 30 June 2025
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Israeli settlers hold wedding ceremony inside Al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection

  • The Jerusalem Governorate deemed the move ‘provocative and humiliating’

LONDON: Israeli authorities permitted a wedding engagement ceremony for Jewish settlers within the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Old City of East Jerusalem on Monday.

The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate deemed the move “provocative and humiliating,” describing it as a transformation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque into what resembles a public hall for celebrations by extremist settlers.

“(This is) a flagrant violation of the sanctity of the mosque, a serious provocation of the feelings of Muslims, and a deliberate attempt to impose a new reality that erases the Islamic identity of the site and paves the way for its division temporally and spatially,” the Jerusalem Governorate said.

On Monday, settlers, accompanied by Israeli police, toured the Al-Aqsa compound. Police prevented Palestinians from approaching the settlers to disrupt the ceremony, according to the Wafa news agency.

The Jerusalem Governorate said that Israeli policies aim to impose sovereignty on Al-Aqsa Mosque, stressing that these repeated provocations contradict international law and the 2016 UNESCO resolution, which recognized Al-Aqsa Mosque as an Islamic heritage site and called for its preservation.

Since 1967, the Jerusalem Endowments Council, which operates under Jordan’s Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, has been the legal authority responsible for managing and regulating the affairs of Al-Aqsa.

However, this status quo has been challenged in recent years by extremist settlers who regularly tour the site under the protection of Israeli police and are often accompanied by government officials and far-right ministers and activists.


UK MPs demand Ukraine-style visa route for Gazans

Updated 30 June 2025
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UK MPs demand Ukraine-style visa route for Gazans

  • Letter to PM: ‘The same generosity should be extended to Palestinian families’
  • Death toll ‘likely to be exponentially higher’ than official figure due to collapse of local govt, health systems

LONDON: MPs in the UK are calling on the government to launch a visa system for Palestinians in Gaza with family already living in Britain.

Sixty-seven politicians have written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper asking for a Gaza Family Scheme mirroring the Ukraine Family Scheme established in 2022 to help refugees escape the war with Russia. It allowed Ukrainians to live and work in the UK for up to three years.

“We believe that the same generosity should be extended to Palestinian families,” said the letter, seen by Sky News.

Signatories include 35 Labour MPs and members of the House of Lords, as well as several people currently suspended from the governing party, including its former leader Jeremy Corbyn and former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell. 

All four sitting members of the Green Party have also signed, alongside former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and the Bishop of Chelmsford Dr. Guli Francis-Dehquani.

The letter accuses Israel of “shattering the temporary ceasefire agreement” with Hamas in Gaza, and of conducting a “campaign of bombardment and military assaults, and targeting of people accessing humanitarian aid.”

MP Marsha de Cordova, who helped organize the letter alongside the Gaza Families Reunited campaign, told Sky News that the Ukraine visa scheme “was the right response to a brutal war,” and that establishing one for Gazans “would be an extension of those same principles, showing that this government is steadfast in its commitment to helping families experiencing the worst horrors of war.

“It is time for the government to act now to help British Palestinians get their loved ones to safety, enabling them to rebuild their lives.”

The letter said the proposed scheme would let Palestinians reunite with “people they may never see again unless urgent action is taken,” and many Gazans trying to reach the UK “struggled to navigate the immigration system.”

It added that efforts to secure visas have been made “impossible due to the destruction of the visa application centre in Gaza and blockade of the Rafah crossing.”

The letter said the death toll in Gaza, reported by Palestinian authorities as numbering at least 53,000 people, “is likely to be exponentially higher” due to the collapse of local government and health systems in the enclave.

Ghassan Ghaben, spokesperson for Gaza Families Reunited, told Sky News: “Family unity is an undeniable human right.”

He urged more MPs, including Conservatives, to add their names to efforts to help get Palestinians to the UK, saying: “We are still waiting for the new government to do the right thing. We, as Palestinians in the UK, simply want the opportunity to bring our loved ones from Gaza to safety, until it is safe to return.”

A government spokesperson told Sky News: “The death and destruction in Gaza is intolerable. Since day one, we have been clear that we need to see an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages cruelly detained by Hamas, better protection of civilians, significantly more aid consistently entering Gaza, and a path to long-term peace and stability.

“There are a range of routes available for Palestinians who wish to join family members in the UK.”


Israel strikes pound Gaza, killing 60, ahead of US talks on ceasefire

Updated 30 June 2025
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Israel strikes pound Gaza, killing 60, ahead of US talks on ceasefire

  • Israel’s Dermer due in US for talks on Gaza, Iran, wider deals
  • Israeli tanks push into Gaza City suburb, residents say

CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Israeli strikes killed at least 60 people across Gaza on Monday in some of the heaviest attacks in weeks as Israeli officials were due in Washington for a new ceasefire push by US President Donald Trump.
A day after Trump called to “Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,” Israel’s strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s, was traveling to Washington for talks on Iran and Gaza, according to an Israeli official and a source familiar with the matter.
Dermer was expected to begin meetings with Trump administration officials on Tuesday, the source in Washington said.
But on the ground in the Palestinian enclave, there was no sign of fighting letting up. The Israeli military issued evacuation orders on Monday to residents in large districts in the northern Gaza Strip, forcing a new wave of displacement.
“Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes,” said Salah, 60, a father of five children, from Gaza City. “In the news we hear a ceasefire is near, on the ground we see death and we hear explosions.”
“Look at us, we are not just numbers and not just pictures. Every day martyrs like this,” said displaced woman Amani Swalha, standing in the rubble of a Gaza city school hit in a strike. “It is our right to live, and to live with dignity, not like this in humiliation.”
Israeli tanks pushed into the eastern areas of Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said.
At least 58 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, health authorities said, including 10 people killed in Zeitoun and at least 13 killed southwest of Gaza City. Medics said most of the 13 were hit by gunfire, but residents also reported an airstrike.
Twenty-two people, including women, children and a local journalist were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a beachfront cafe in Gaza City, medics said. The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate said more than 220 journalists had been killed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023.
The Israeli military said it struck militant targets in northern Gaza, including command and control centers, after taking steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.
There was no immediate word from Israel on the reported casualties southwest of the Gaza Strip and the beachfront cafe.
The bombardment followed new evacuation orders to vast areas in the north, where Israeli forces had operated before and left behind wide-scale destruction. The military ordered people there to head south, saying that it planned to fight Hamas militants operating in northern Gaza, including in the heart of Gaza City.
“Make the deal”
Alongside talks on Gaza ceasefire prospects, Dermer also plans to discuss Netanyahu’s possible visit to the White House in coming weeks, according to the source familiar with the matter.
In Israel, Netanyahu’s security cabinet was expected to convene to discuss the next steps in Gaza.
On Friday, Israel’s military chief said the present ground operation was close to having achieved its goals, and on Sunday, Netanyahu said new opportunities had opened up for recovering the hostages, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Palestinian and Egyptian sources with knowledge of the latest ceasefire efforts said that mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up their contacts with the two warring sides, but that no date has been set yet for a new round of truce talks.
A Hamas official said that progress depends on Israel changing its position and agreeing to end the war and withdraw from Gaza. Israel says it can end the war only when Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel has agreed to a US-proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage deal, and put the onus on Hamas. He told reporters: “Israel is serious in its will to reach a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza.”
Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, speaking in Jerusalem alongside her Israeli counterpart, said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was “unbearable.”
“The suffering of civilians is increasingly burdening Israel’s relations with Europe. A ceasefire must be agreed upon,” she said, calling for the unconditional release of hostages by Hamas and for Israel to allow the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Israel says it continues to allow aid into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing it. The group denies that accusation and says Israel uses hunger as a weapon against the Gaza population.
The US has proposed a 60-day ceasefire and the release of half the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the remains of other Palestinians. Hamas would release the remaining hostages as part of a deal that guarantees ending the war.
The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 251 hostages back to Gaza in a surprise attack that led to Israel’s single deadliest day.
Israel’s subsequent military assault has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry, displaced almost the whole 2.3 million population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
More than 80 percent of the territory is now an Israeli-militarized zone or under displacement orders, according to the UN.