Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmad Aboul-Gheit welcomed Wednesday the successful start of unloading the decaying Safer oil tanker off Yemen’s coast in the Red Sea.
In a statement, Aboul-Gheit said that the operation was necessary to avoid an “unprecedented” environmental disaster, welcoming all Arab and international efforts that contributed to this “key” mission.
He called on all relevant parties, including public and private agencies, and environment associations, to contribute to funding the remaining part of this process.
A number of Arab countries contributed financially to removing the oil barrels, the statement noted.
It indicated that maintaining the safety of marine environment in this important shipping artery is a global responsibility that requires cooperation of all parties capable of contributing to this operation.
Meanwhile, the UN announced Tuesday the launch of unloading the tanker grounded off Yemen coast eight years ago.
The tanker, which contains 1.14 million oil barrels, was left to decay after the eruption of violence between the Yemeni government and Houthi militias in 2014.
Source: Kuwait News Agency