A tripartite meeting was held in Aden between the Yemeni government, the United Nations and the Netherlands to discuss the status of the tanker Safer and efforts to begin the implementation of the first phase of the UN plan to unload and maintain the tanker to avoid the failure of the tanker and a global environmental disaster.

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Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, Dutch Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation Lesegh Schreinmacher, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, David Grisley, and a number of Yemeni ministers and experts attended the meeting.

Houthi intransigence

London-based Middle East newspaper confirmed that since their coup against legitimacy in Yemen, the Houthi militias have obstructed all efforts to empty the tank of the tanker, and prevented more than once the implementation of the urgent maintenance of the United Nations, the United Nations convinced the Houthis of its plan of 80 million dollars to start the rescue operation, and the Yemeni government offered to empty the tanker, sell the crude, and use the revenues to support the health sector in the areas controlled by the Houthis, but the militias rejected the offer.

Official Yemeni sources said that the tripartite meeting discussed the status of the tanker Safar and the efforts to implement the first phase of the United Nations plan to unload and preserve it, noting that the meeting dealt with practical steps to solve the problem of the ship Safer and joint coordination to mobilize international efforts to cover the funding gap of the United Nations plan.

Imminent danger

The issue of the tanker poses a real danger to the Red Sea and the lives and livelihoods of millions of Yemenis and neighboring countries, the London-based newspaper said. It is a “ticking time bomb” because it carries more than one million barrels of crude oil, warning that the condition of the ship is very deteriorating, as maintenance operations have stopped since the beginning of the war.

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Meanwhile, Yemeni official sources announced that the Dutch Minister confirmed her country’s interest in the issue of the tanker and recognized the catastrophic risks of any leakage or explosion. The Dutch Minister confirmed her country’s efforts to finance the entire plan, unloading and maintaining the oil tank according to the plan prepared by the United Nations.