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.”

 


US says supports gas deals with Kurdistan region after Iraq lawsuit

Updated 28 May 2025
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US says supports gas deals with Kurdistan region after Iraq lawsuit

  • “We encourage Baghdad and Irbil to work together to expand domestic gas production as soon as possible

WASHINGTON: The United States said Tuesday it supported American energy companies’ contracts with Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region after the Iraqi government filed a lawsuit against them.
Regional prime minister Masrour Barzani announced the signing of the two deals valued at tens of billions of dollars during a visit to Washington, in which he met Friday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio in his meeting “commended” the deals with US companies, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.
“We encourage Baghdad and Irbil to work together to expand domestic gas production as soon as possible. These types of economic partnerships will benefit both the American and Iraqi peoples and help Iraq move toward energy independence,” she said.
“We also believe that US and Iraqi interests are best served by having a strong, resilient Iraqi Kurdistan region within a sovereign and prosperous federal Iraq
“As far as the nature of the lawsuits, obviously we are looking forward to continuing these kinds of deals. We expect these kinds of deals to flourish, and expect and would hope that they would be facilitated,” she said.
 

 


Israeli troops fire warning shots as Palestinians overwhelm new Gaza food center

Updated 28 May 2025
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Israeli troops fire warning shots as Palestinians overwhelm new Gaza food center

  • The UN and other humanitarian organizations have rejected the new system, saying it won’t be able to meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million people

MUWASI, Gaza Strip: Chaos erupted on the second day of aid operations by a new US-backed group in Gaza as desperate Palestinians overwhelmed a center distributing food on Tuesday, breaking through fences. Nearby Israeli troops fired warning shots, sending people fleeing in panic.
An AP journalist heard Israeli tank and gunfire and saw a military helicopter firing flares. The Israeli military said its troops fired the warning shots in the area outside the center and that “control over the situation was established.”
At least three injured Palestinians were seen by The Associated Press being brought from the scene, one of them bleeding from his leg.
The distribution hub outside Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah had been opened the day before by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been slated by Israel to take over aid operations. The UN and other humanitarian organizations have rejected the new system, saying it won’t be able to meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and allows Israel to use food as a weapon to control the population. They have also warned of the risk of friction between Israeli troops and people seeking supplies.
Palestinians have become desperate for food after nearly three months of Israeli blockade pushed Gaza to the brink of famine.
Palestinians walk miles for food, finding chaos
Palestinians at the scene told AP that small numbers of people made their way to the GHF center Tuesday morning and received food boxes. As word spread, large numbers of men, women and children walked for several miles from the sprawling tent camps along Gaza’s Mediterranean coast. To reach the hub, they had to pass through nearby Israeli military positions.
By the afternoon, hundreds of thousands were massed at the hub. Videos show the crowds funneled in long lines through chain-link fence passages. Two people said each person was searched and had their faces scanned for identification before being allowed to receive the boxes. Crowds swelled and turmoil erupted, with people tearing down fences and grabbing boxes. The staff at the site were forced to flee, they said.
The AP journalist positioned some distance away heard gunfire and rounds of tank fire. Smoke could be seen rising from where one round impacted. He saw a military helicopter overhead firing flares.
“There was no order, the people rushed to take, there was shooting, and we fled,” said Hosni Abu Amra, who had been waiting to receive aid. “We fled without taking anything that would help us get through this hunger.”
“It was chaos,” said Ahmed Abu Taha, who said he heard gunfire and saw Israeli military aircraft overhead. “People were panicked.”
Crowds were seen running from the site. A few managed to secure aid boxes — containing basic items like sugar, flour, pasta and tahini — but the vast majority left empty-handed.
US-backed group says they ‘fell back’ to ensure safety
In a statement, GHF said that because of the large number of Palestinians seeking aid, staff at the hub followed the group’s safety protocols and “fell back” to allow them to dissipate, then later resumed operations.
A spokesperson for the group told the AP that no shots were fired from GHF. Speaking on condition of anonymity in line with the group’s rules, the spokesperson said the protocols aim at “avoiding loss of life, which is exactly what happened.”
GHF uses armed private contractors to guard the hubs and the transportation of supplies. The hub is also close to Israeli military positions in the Morag Corridor, a band of territory across the breadth of Gaza that divides Rafah from the rest of the territory.
GHF has set up four hubs around Gaza to distribute food, two of which began operating on Monday — both of them in the Rafah area.
The UN and other humanitarian groups have refused to participate in GHF’s system, saying it violates humanitarian principles. They say it can be used by Israel to forcibly displace the population by requiring them to move near the few distribution hubs or else face starvation – a violation of international law. They have also opposed the use of facial recognition to vet recipients.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday commented on the turmoil at the Rafah center, saying, “There was some loss of control momentarily … happily we brought it under control.”
He repeated that Israel plans to move Gaza’s entire population to a “sterile zone” at the southern end of the territory while troops fight Hamas elsewhere.
UN says it has been struggling to transport aid
Israel has said the new system is necessary because it claims Hamas has been siphoning off supplies that reach Gaza. The UN has denied that any significant diversion takes place.
Throughout the war, the UN and other aid groups have conducted a massive operation distributing food, medicine and other supplies to wherever Palestinians are located. Israel says GHF will replace that network, but the past week has allowed a trickle of aid to enter Gaza for the UN to distribute.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency in charge of coordinating aid, said on Tuesday that 400 trucks of supplies, mainly food, was waiting on the Gaza side of the main crossing from Israel, but that the UN had not collected them. It said Israel has extended the times for collection and expanded the routes that the UN can use inside Gaza.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office OCHA, told reporters in Geneva that agencies have struggled to pick up the supplies “because of the insecure routes that are being assigned to us by the Israeli authorities to use.” He said the amount of aid allowed the past week was “vastly insufficient.”


Israeli strike on south Lebanon kills one: ministry

Updated 27 May 2025
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Israeli strike on south Lebanon kills one: ministry

  • The ministry said an “Israeli enemy strike” on a motorcycle killed one man in Yater
  • The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike on south Lebanon killed one man on Tuesday, the latest attack despite a ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

In a statement, the ministry said an “Israeli enemy strike” on a motorcycle killed one man in Yater, in south Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil district.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack, which came after it said it killed a Hezbollah member in south Lebanon’s Majdal Zoun on Monday.

Israel has continued to launch strikes on its northern neighbor despite the November truce that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, including two months of full-blown war.

Under the terms of the ceasefire deal, only UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army should be deployed in southern Lebanon, though Israel has kept its forces in five areas it has declared strategic.

Lebanon has called on the international community to pressure Israel to end its attacks and withdraw all its troops.


UN says it has no information over Gaza aid group deliveries

Updated 28 May 2025
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UN says it has no information over Gaza aid group deliveries

GENEVA: The United Nations said on Tuesday it had no information on whether the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed aid group, had actually delivered any supplies inside the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

The little-known group, which has stirred controversy since surfacing in early May, announced on Monday it had begun distributing truckloads of food in the Gaza Strip.

But officials from the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, and UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said they were unaware whether any aid had actually been distributed.

The UN and international aid agencies have said they will not cooperate with the GHF, amid accusations it is working with Israel without any Palestinian involvement.

“It is a distraction from what is actually needed, which is a reopening of all the crossings in to Gaza; a secure environment within Gaza; and faster facilitation of permissions and final approvals of all the emergency supplies that we have just outside the border that need to get in,” OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke told a press briefing in Geneva.

UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma told journalists aid to Gaza was still “very, very far” from what was needed: a minimum of 500 to 600 trucks per day loaded with food, medical aid, fuel, water and other basic supplies, she said, speaking via video-link from Amman.

Israel, which recently stepped up its offensive against militant group Hamas, drew international condemnation after implementing a blockade on March 2 that has sparked severe food and medical shortages.

Humanitarian aid has begun trickling back into Gaza in recent days after Israel lifted the 11-week blockade.

Touma said no UNRWA supplies had gone in since March 2, while Laerke said he had no information on how many UN trucks had passed through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the last 24 hours, partly because Israel does not allow them to have a fixed presence there.


Israeli forces raid foreign exchange stores across West Bank

Updated 27 May 2025
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Israeli forces raid foreign exchange stores across West Bank

  • One killed, eight other people were injured by Israeli forces during a raid in Nablus

RAMALLAH: Israeli forces raided foreign exchange stores in several West Bank cities including Ramallah and Nablus on Tuesday, accusing their parent company of “connections with terrorist organizations,” according to an army closure notice.

“Israeli forces are taking action against Al-Khaleej Exchange Company due to its connections with terrorist organizations,” a leaflet left at the company’s Ramallah location read.

An AFP journalist present at the scene reported several army vehicles at the store’s entrance while soldiers came out carrying items covered by a cloth.

Two army vehicles escorted one of the store’s employees away from the premises.

In the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli forces raided a second foreign exchange store belonging to the Al-Khaleej company, as well as a gold store, according to another AFP journalist.

Some Palestinian residents of Nablus were seen clashing with the army during the raid, throwing objects at troops.

The Ramallah-based Ministry of Health said one man was killed and eight other people were injured by Israeli forces’ live ammunition during a raid in Nablus on Tuesday.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it treated 20 people for tear gas inhalation and three others who were injured by rubber bullets.

The Palestinian movement Hamas condemned the raids on foreign exchange shops.

“These assaults on economic institutions, accompanied by the looting of large sums of money and the confiscation of property, are an extension of the piracy policies adopted by the (Israeli) government,” the group said in a statement, adding that the targeted companies were “operating within the law.”