Saudi Arabia has pledged to offer $10 million to the UN to fund the rescue of an abandoned oil tanker off war-torn Yemen that threatens to cause an oil spill in the Red Sea, it said on Sunday. the Saudi official agency.
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The FSO Safer tanker, anchored off the strategic port of Hodeida (west), about 150 km south of the Saudi coast, contains the equivalent of just over a million barrels and risks breaking at any time , explode or catch fire, according to experts. About 45 years old, the tanker has not been maintained since 2015 when Yemen is already plunged into one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world due to the war between power and the Houthi rebels who control the port. of Hodeidah.
A military coalition led by neighboring Saudi Arabia has been intervening since 2015 to support loyalist forces. “The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center offers $10 million (about 9.5 million euros) to deal with the threat of an oil spill in the Red Seasaid the official SPA news agency.
More than $144 million needed to fund the operation
In May, France, Britain, Germany, Qatar and other donor countries pledged $33 million to fund emergency operations, not even half of the $80 million hoped for by the government. ‘UN. A total of $144 million would be needed for the full operation, including securing the tanker completely, according to the UN. In the event of an oil spill, on the other hand, the international organization estimates that some 20 billion dollars should be put on the table just for clean-up operations.
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On Wednesday, the environmental NGO Greenpeace called on Arab countries to act “before it is too late“, saying that the tanker threatens not only”the population of Yemen and neighboring countries” but also “the region’s fragile ecosystems, including the unique biodiversity of the Red Sea“. It would be “one of the most dangerous disasters in history“.