UNITED NATIONS, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The immediate challenge in offloading 1 million barrels of oil from a rusting tanker off Yemen and averting a catastrophe is funding, a UN spokesman said on Monday.
"The biggest and most important step will be the funding that we will need which will be determined by the operational plan," said Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The cost is not yet known,
The world body and the rebel Houthi militia over the weekend reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on offloading the dangerous cargo, Dujarric said. The MOU includes a short-term solution to eliminate the immediate threat (of leakage) and a long-term solution not immediately spelled out.
He said that Yemen's internationally recognized government in Sanaa also is committed to facilitating the project. The Netherlands is lending its maritime expertise to the project.
"The Netherlands is an important stakeholder in this UN-coordinated proposal," the spokesman said. "When ready, the operational plan will he shared with all members states" of the world organization.
The UN resident and humanitarian coordinator, David Gressly, worked out the MOU with the Houthis, Dujarric told a regular briefing. "The mission confirmed that the risk of imminent catastrophe is very real indeed."
The spokesman said the special coordinator for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, started a series of consultations with more than 100 Yemeni men and women from political parties, the security and economic sectors and civil society taking place over the next few weeks.
"We are going to work on this as quickly as possible," Dujarric said. "We're fully aware of the urgency of the matter, but it will also require putting bids out on the open market for facilities and tools that the United Nations doesn't keep."
For seven years, the derelict Safer sat off the port city of Hodeidah, now controlled by the Houthis. The militia had previously obstructed UN efforts to send inspectors to assess the tanker's condition or offload it.
The world body has repeatedly warned the Safer was in imminent danger of leaking and fouling the waters and shoreline of the Red Sea. ■
