The Netherlands will on Wednesday host a fund-raising event to raise money for an UN-led operation to dismantle a rusting oil tanker off Yemen's coast.
Dubbed a floating “time-bomb”, the Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) Safer tanker is moored in Yemen’s port of Ras Issa. It has been uncertified since 2016 and could cause an oil spill four times bigger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.
In March, the rebel Houthi group signed an agreement with the UN in a breakthrough move to save Yemen and its waters from the threat posed by the expired vessel.
The donor conference hopes to raise the $80 million required for the first step of the whole operation: dismantling the Safer and offloading the 1.1 million barrels of crude oil it currently holds.
“As a neutral country in this matter, the Netherlands has good relations with all parties in Yemen,” Dutch ambassador to Yemen, Peter Derrek Hof said in a statement carried by the country’s Foreign Ministry.
However, there is an expectation from the Houthis to co-operate in facilitating the process after years of barring UN inspectors from conducting maintenance work on the vessel.
Mr Hof spoke to The National after a visit to Sanaa and Ras Issa in March.
“The project can only be executed if enough funds are raised,” he said at the time.
The Houthis said they refuse to pay for any part of the operation — leaving the UN to rely on donor money for dismantling the Safer, offloading it, finding a temporary replacement and eventually substituting that with a temporary vessel that would be connected to the pipeline from Marib where the Safer is at the moment.
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Centre Court
Starting at 10am:
Lucrezia Stefanini v Elena Rybakina (6)
Aryna Sabalenka (4) v Polona Hercog
Sofia Kenin (1) v Zhaoxuan Yan
Kristina Mladenovic v Garbine Muguruza (5)
Sorana Cirstea v Karolina Pliskova (3)
Jessica Pegula v Elina Svitolina (2)
Court 1
Starting at 10am:
Sara Sorribes Tormo v Nadia Podoroska
Marketa Vondrousova v Su-Wei Hsieh
Elise Mertens (7) v Alize Cornet
Tamara Zidansek v Jennifer Brady (11)
Heather Watson v Jodie Burrage
Vera Zvonareva v Amandine Hesse
Court 2
Starting at 10am:
Arantxa Rus v Xiyu Wang
Maria Kostyuk v Lucie Hradecka
Karolina Muchova v Danka Kovinic
Cori Gauff v Ulrikke Eikeri
Mona Barthel v Anastasia Gasanova
Court 3
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Aliaksandra Sasnovich v Anna Bondar
Bianca Turati v Yaroslava Shvedova
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