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Diabierna 28 Januari 2022

Group warns of potential catastrophe on old tanker off Yemen

affected, said the Amsterdam-based the catastrophic impact of a potential
advocacy group. leak from the aging and neglected
tanker. However, none of its diplo-
An oil leak would also cause the clo- matic efforts to resolve the matter has
sure of fisheries, the rise of air pol- materialized. Last year, the U.N. ac-
lution levels in the region and the cused the rebels of using the tanker as
disruption of shipping traffic through a “bargaining chip” to advance their
Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Suez political agenda in Yemen.
Canal, said the report.
“The technology and expertise to
Internal documents obtained by The transfer the oil to other tankers exist,
Associated Press in 2020 show that but despite months of negotiations
seawater has entered the tanker’s en- we are still at a stalemate,” said Paul
gine compartment, causing damage Horsman, project leader of Green-
to pipes and increasing the risk of peace’s Safer response team. “It is re-
sinking. Rust has covered parts of the ally time to put aside the politics and
tanker and the inert gas that prevents agree on a contingency plan.”
the tanks from gathering flammable
gases has leaked out. Experts say Horsman told reporters that his group
maintenance is no longer possible be- is calling for the deployment of a con-
cause the damage to the ship is irre- tainment boom around the tanker
(AP) — A leading environmental of Ras Issa since the 1980s, when it versible, according to the AP report. as a first line of defense. Booms are
group warned Thursday of a po- was sold to the Yemeni government. interconnected floating barriers that
tential major oil leak or explosion Prior to the escalation of Yemen’s “The question is no longer whether are usually spread across the water to
on an aging oil tanker moored off conflict in 2015, the vessel was used the catastrophe will happen. The stop a major oil spill.
of Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The to store and export oil from fields in question is when it will happen,”
neglected vessel is loaded with eastern Marib province. Greenpeace MENA Campaigns “The boom is not a solution but it
more than a million barrels of Manager Ahmed El Droubi told re- could potentially buy us time in case
crude oil. The 42-page Greenpeace report ar- porters in a virtual news conference there is a spill,” said Horsman. “The
gues that an oil spill or explosion Thursday. only solution is to move the oil safely
Greenpeace released a report listing on the tanker would lead to the clo- from Safer to another tanker.”
the environmental, humanitarian and sure of desalination plants in Yemen, Ras Issa is controlled by the coun-
economic impacts of a potential oil which will eventually disrupt the try’s Houthi rebels. Since 2015, the Chris Johnson, a U.N. senior policy
spill from the FSO Safer on conflict- supply of drinking water to nearly 10 Houthis have been at war with the advisor who was present during the
riddled Yemen and the Red Sea re- million people. internationally recognized govern- release of the Greenpeace report,
gion in general. ment, which is backed by a Saudi-led said the U.N. is already working on
“The entire Red Sea region’s drinking coalition and the United States. bringing a boom from Djibouti to
“The event could be one of the big- water supply could be contaminated Hodeida port. She added that the
gest oil spill disasters in history and by oil in just three weeks following a Last month, a Yemeni official with the U.N. is pursuing with diplomatic ef-
would cause widespread severe envi- spill,” said Greenpeace. U.N.-recognized government said forts to reach an agreement between
ronmental damage and exacerbate the there was an oil leak from the tanker. the Houthis, the Saudi-led-coalition
humanitarian crisis unfolding in the A major spill would also lead to the Undersecretary of Hodeida province and the Yemeni government to re-
country,” the group said in its report. closure of Yemen’s western ports, in- Waleed al-Qudaimi blamed the situ- solve the matter.
cluding Hodeida and Salif, through ation on the U.N. Security Council
The rusting, neglected Japanese-built which 68% of aid is brought into the and called on countries bordering the Meanwhile, the U.N. is trying to lo-
tanker has been moored in its loca- Arab world’s poorest country, the re- Red Sea to act urgently. cate a suitable vessel to which the oil
tion 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) away port said. Up to 8.4 million people could be transferred, Johnson told
from Yemen’s western Red Sea port relying on food aid supplies would be The U.N. has constantly warned of reporters.

Russia sees little optimism in US response on Ukraine crisis

(AP) — The Kremlin said on Moscow’s main points amid fears that Europe could plomacy. We hope not,” Psaki main issue.” Those are Mos-
Thursday that there was Wednesday, refusing to per- again be plunged into war. said. cow’s demands that NATO
“little ground for opti- manently ban Ukraine from not expand and that the alli-
mism” in resolving the joining NATO and saying Kremlin spokesman Dmi- Foreign Minister Sergey Lav- ance refrain from deploying
crisis over Ukraine after allied deployments of troops try Peskov told reporters that rov said the U.S. response weapons that might threaten
the U.S. rejected Russia’s and military equipment in the response from the U.S. contained some elements Russia.
main demands, but that Eastern Europe are nonne- — and a similar one from that could lead to “the start
dialogue was still possible. gotiable. The U.S. did out- NATO — left “little ground of a serious talk on second- Lavrov said top officials will
line areas in which some of for optimism.” But he added ary issues,” but emphasized submit proposals to Putin.
Tensions have soared in re- Russia’s concerns might be that “there always are pros- that “the document contains Peskov said the Russian reac-
cent weeks, as the United addressed, possibly offering a pects for continuing a dia- no positive response on the tion would come soon.
States and its NATO allies ex- path to de-escalation. logue, it’s in the interests of
pressed concern that a build- both us and the Americans.”
up of about 100,000 Russian “There is no change, there
troops near Ukraine signaled will be no change,” U.S. White House press secretary
that Moscow planned to in- Secretary of State Antony Jen Psaki was circumspect
vade its ex-Soviet neighbor. Blinken said, repeating the when asked whether the
Russia denies having any warning that any Russian in- Biden administration saw a
such designs — and has laid cursion into Ukraine would sliver of hope in that the Rus-
out a series of demands it says be met with massive conse- sians said they would keep
will improve security in Eu- quences and severe economic communications open even
rope. costs. as they said that they lacked
optimism..
But as expected, the U.S. and All eyes are now on President
the Western alliance firmly Vladimir Putin, who will de- “We don’t know if the Rus-
rejected any concessions cide how Russia will respond sians are playing games on di-