The Safer bomb… The UN negotiations – Al-Houthi militias reach a dead end

The United Nations on Wednesday blamed the Houthi militia for any fallout from a “Safer” bomb after negotiations between the two sides failed.

The UN and the Iranian-backed Houthi militia have been engaged in intensive discussions over the past 10 days on security guarantees and facilities for the arrival and deployment of a UN technical team to assess and maintain the aging Safer oil tanker before it faltered due to rebel intransigence.

On Tuesday, Al-Houthi’s militia issued fiery statements attacking the United Nations, accusing it of backtracking on maintenance and disbursing donor funds allocated for the oil ship as an operating budget.

The UN expressed disappointment with the Houthi militia’s statements and blamed it for any repercussions after UN efforts to resolve the Red Sea’s Safer Reservoir crisis reached a “dead end.”

A spokesman for the UN Secretary General, Stephane Dujarric, said the Houthis statements were disappointing and confirmed that the militias “are not prepared to give the assurances we need to deploy a UN technical team in a Safer tank.”

A statement, a copy of which was obtained by Al Ain News, said that the team or the UN mission on Safer had been trying for years to make an assessment and some light maintenance possible on the tanker carrying 1.1 million barrels of crude oil.

Al-Houthi’s militia requires the full maintenance of the tanker within one of its obstacles, which “we have made clear many times that this cannot be done without an impartial assessment,” the UN official said.

“We need to understand exactly what we are dealing with before embarking on any major action,” Dujarric said, referring to the location of the ship off the Houthi-controlled port of Ras Isa, where they are deployed and emplaced with naval mines.

“He added that the UN has held very intense discussions on this matter with the Houthi militia over the past ten days in an attempt to bridge the gap in goals and understandings”.

He reiterated the UN’s commitment to continue talks on the issue, as the Security Council is expected to discuss the issue of Safir Reservoir on Thursday.

“In February, the Houthi militia blocked the UN team’s access to the tanker Safir, which the UN considered a worrying sign, having repeatedly reneged on its commitments”.

The Yemeni government has ruled out the start of new negotiations because any new round of discussions on the oil reservoir Safer would be successful, stressing the need for the Security Council and the international community to pressure the Houthi militia as the only option after they used the file as a bargaining chip and political blackmail.

“The Safer ship, which has not received any maintenance since the Houthi coup in late 2014, is of global concern as it remains at risk of an oil spill, explosion or fire.”

Any leak would cause an environmental disaster in the Red Sea and immediately shut down the vital port of Al-Hudaydah, blocking food access to millions of Yemenis and millions, according to international reports.