DUBAI: The United Nations on Thursday aims to raise the final $29 million needed to start salvaging 1.1 million barrels of oil from a decaying vessel moored off war-torn Yemen’s coast and avert an environmental disaster.
UN officials have been warning for years that the Red Sea and Yemen’s coastline was at risk as the Safer tanker could spill four times as much oil as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.
A UN plan to offload the oil needs $129 million, which includes purchasing a large tanker, the price of which has shot up due to the war in Ukraine. Around $99 million has been raised from governments, private donors and crowdfunding.
A UN pledging event co-hosted by Britain and the Netherlands on Thursday hopes to raise the remaining $29 million, the UN said.
A tanker, the Nautica, was procured by the UN in March and set sail from China in early April.
The operation cannot be paid for by the sale of the oil because it is not clear who owns it, the UN has said.
War suspended maintenance operations on the Safer in 2015. The UN has warned its structural integrity has significantly deteriorated and it is at risk of exploding.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Iran-aligned Houthi group ousted the government from the capital Sanaa in late 2014.
Peace initiatives have seen increased momentum since Riyadh and Tehran in March agreed to restore diplomatic ties severed in 2016.
A Saudi delegation in April went to Sanaa seeking a permanent cease-fire. Houthi authorities said more talks would happen after the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, which was two weeks ago.
UN Yemen envoy Hans Grundberg is holding meetings in Yemen and the region this week.
UN conference seeks final funds for Yemen Safer oil tanker operation
https://arab.news/89k9u
UN conference seeks final funds for Yemen Safer oil tanker operation
- UN officials have been warning for years that the Red Sea and Yemen’s coastline was at risk due to tanker’s deterioration
The art of war: fears for masterpieces on loan to Louvre Abu Dhabi
- UAE paid more than €1 billion to borrow priceless works, but experts in France want them back
PARIS: The Middle East war has raised fears for the safety of priceless masterpieces on loan from France to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the museum’s only foreign branch.
The Abu Dhabi museum, which opened in 2017, has so far escaped damage from nearly 1,800 Iranian drone and missile strikes launched since the conflict erupted on Feb. 28.
However, concerns are mounting in France. “The works must be removed,” said Didier Selles, who helped broker the original agreement between France and the UAE.
French journal La Tribune de l’Art echoed that alarm. “The Louvre’s works in Abu Dhabi must be secured!” it said.
France’s culture ministry said French authorities were “in close and regular contact with the authorities of the UAE to ensure the protection of the works loaned by France.”
Under the agreement with the UAE, France agreed to provide expertise, lend works of art and organize exhibitions, in return for €1 billion, including €400 million for licensing the use of the Louvre name. The deal was extended in 2021 to 2047 for an additional €165 million.
Works on loan include paintings by Rembrandt and Chardin, Classical statues of Isis, Roman sarcophagi and Islamic masterpieces: such as the Pyxis of Al-Mughira.
A Louvre Abu Dhabi source said the museum was designed to protect collections from both security threats and natural disasters.
