Minister of Fisheries criticizes Britain’s political outbidding on “Safer” reservoir

SANAA, July 5 (YPA) – Minister of Fisheries in the Salvation Government Mohammed al-Zubairi on Saturday considered British move in the UN Security Council and its call for a meeting on the Yemeni oil floating tank “Safer” is a “political move.”

Al-Zubairi explained, in a television statement on Saturday night, that this comes within “political outbidding rather than concern on the marine environment safety or the economic consequences of any oil leakage.”

He said that that the Safer tank issue is being raised for the first time after five years. “Where was Britain and the Security Council when we were presenting the initiative one after another in this regard without anyone hearing us?”

“The Supreme Political Council presented an initiative that offered to sell the oil stored in the floating tank of Safer and divide its revenues between Aden and Sanaa to pay the salaries of the employees,” he added, referring that the United Nations has ignored repeated pleas from Sanaa to allow maintenance of the reservoir, dispatch of a maintenance team or the export of its stocks to avoid an environmental disaster.

The Minister indicated to the catastrophic affects of preventing the maintenance of the reservoir and exporting its oil, saying: “There are approximately 121 islands and 650 species of fish in the vicinity of Safer reservoir, and its explosion will eliminate these rare types of fish.”

Once again, he warns of the potential environmental and economic impacts, saying: “The environmental impacts of damage in the safer oil tank will affect hundreds of thousands of families who live on fishing.”

He added that the explosion of Safer reservoir (due to the prevention of its maintenance) will affect many countries bordering the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

YPA