YEMEN Press Agency

Al-Houthi reveals causes of dispute over Safer Oil Tanker

SANAA, June 28 (YPA) – Top member of the Supreme Political Council, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi revealed reasons for the dispute over the ” Safer Oil Tanker”, a floating oil storage in the Red Sea port of Ras Issa, and the failure of its maintenance and export of its oil reserves before any possible leakage.

“The dispute over the (floating) Safer Oil Tanker is not on deployment of an evaluation team as some are trying to portray it,” he said, adding that there are three main reasons for the US-backed Saudi-led led coalition’s stance against ending the reservoir crisis.

He added: The disagreement over “ensuring its repair and maintenance (FSO Safer) after evaluation, if any, and writing a mechanism for pumping oil before as a point of confidence, is presented not fragmented as the UN proposal and the comprehensive solution document” presented by Sana’a to the UN envoy.

“The value of oil continues to be shifted to a special account for military and civilian salaries according to the 2014 statements,” Mohammed al-Houthis said, referring to the third reason on Twitter account on Saturday.

He renewed the disclaimer of the Political Council and the National Salvation Government from any leakage that might occur from the vessel after appeals to the United Nations to send a team to maintain it.

Regarding the British ambassador in Yemen Michael Aaron’s remarks, al-Houthi said in a series of tweets on his Twitter page on Thursday, “What the aggression and the embargo did economically and environmentally in Yemen did more harm than any leakage (from Safer) that we had evacuated our responsibility for.”

“If you think that the fish are more valuable than the Yemeni people, then you as the British confirm your absolute affiliation with the American Foreign Ministry, which declared its concern over the Yemeni shrimp previously, while you participated and declared, as two countries and officially, the siege and killing of the Yemeni citizen by leading the aggression against Yemen,” he added.

Addressing Aaron, Mohammed al-Houthi said, “You are not a policy maker, but a carrier of news and reports. Peace in Yemen does not need detailing according to what your countries want, nor can it come from seminars and conferences with non-actors from the Yemeni Republic and the party of aggressors as countries.”

“The detention of oil ships because the salary text has been paid to the people confirms that their remarks about salaries in the Security Council is only a tickle of feelings,” he added, stressing that the release of oil derivative ships means “the paying of half the salary with the coming of the feast, but the most important thing (for the countries of aggression) is to punish the Yemeni people.”

The comprehensive solution document to end the war on Yemen submitted by the leadership of the Republic of Yemen in Sanaa to the United Nations in April, included measures to ensure the safety of the tanker Safer, through a technical mission led by the United Nations to assess the conditions of the tanker and conduct initial reforms.

It also included that the technical team make recommendations according to which a plan for extracting oil from the tanker in a safe manner, including the return of pumping oil to the tanker through the Safer-Ras Issa pipeline, would be agreed upon. It is an initiative that is added to several initiatives previously launched by Sana’a regarding the vessel, including the supply of its oil revenues to pay employee salaries.

The coalition of aggression is refusing the entry of the technical team entrusted with maintenance work according to the United Nations, to carry out the maintenance of the tanker Safer. This threatens an imminent environmental disaster due to an oil spill that may reach the Mediterranean and the Arabian Seas.

The Safer, once Yemen’s main oil export facility, is a floating storage and offloading vessel moored about 50 kilometers north-west of Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, the entry point for most of the country’s humanitarian aid and imports. It contains more than 147 million barrels of crude oil and has had no maintenance for nearly five years, allowing explosive gases to build up in its storage tanks.

The Safer found itself with its large crew in a state of siege within the massive siege imposed on Yemen, which caused the suspension of its activity and then prevented the supply of the necessary fuel for its operation.

In early April, the Supreme Political Council presented a “Comprehensive Solution document to end the war on Yemen”, which included measures to ensure the safety of the  Safer oil tanker, with a UN-led technical mission assessing the carrier’s conditions and carrying out initial repairs.

E.M