Yemen Rejects Houthi Conditions on Decaying Oil Tanker

Yemen's Safer oil tanker. AFP file photo
Yemen's Safer oil tanker. AFP file photo
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Yemen Rejects Houthi Conditions on Decaying Oil Tanker

Yemen's Safer oil tanker. AFP file photo
Yemen's Safer oil tanker. AFP file photo

Houthi insurgents use the floating storage and offloading (FSO) facility Safer as a weapon and for political blackmailing, the Yemeni caretaker government said on Tuesday, calling for the UN Security Council to end persistent "hijacking of the tanker by militias that threaten Yemen and the world."

In a tweet, Yemen's foreign ministry slammed the Houthis for denying the UN team access to the vessel, and “using the FSO as a weapon and for political blackmailing.”

The Houthis obstinately put unattainable conditions, such as prolonging the life expectancy of an unfixable derelict reservoir, keeping Safer as a time bomb at its hands without caring for risky consequences, it added.

The FSO's cargo of crude needs to be immediately unloaded to avoid an environmental, humanitarian disaster due to the facility's continuously deteriorating condition, the ministry warned.

While the government unconditionally approved for the UN team access, and agreed to have the crude revenues used in paying the civil servants' salaries across Yemen, the Houthis persistently refuse to do so.

The Safer, which is located off the Yemeni seaport of Ras Isa, has not been maintained since 2014, with corrosion making the FSO and its 1.2 million barrels of crude at risk of looming explosion.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the so-called Houthi Revolutionary Committee, said that the insurgents demanded that the UN brings in a third party to assess the situation on board the derelict ship.

“What worries the UN, its chief, and the coalition (Arab Coalition)? If they claim to be keen on the environment, they should involve a third party, represented by Germany or Sweden, in the maintenance of Safer,” al-Houthi tweeted.

The UN has recently called for expediting the issuance of needed access permits to the UN team of experts to assess and perform maintenance on the rundown vessel.



Marzouki’s Case Referred to Anti-Terrorism Unit, Former Tunisian President Faces 20 New Charges

Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki (AFP)
Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki (AFP)
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Marzouki’s Case Referred to Anti-Terrorism Unit, Former Tunisian President Faces 20 New Charges

Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki (AFP)
Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki (AFP)

Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki announced on Tuesday that he had been informed his case had been transferred to the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Unit. He now faces 20 charges, including inciting internal unrest and spreading false information.
Marzouki wrote on X that his brother, Mokhles, was summoned on Monday to the police station of El Kantaoui (governorate of Sousse) to sign a document stating that Moncef Marzouki’s case had been referred to the Anti-Terrorist Judicial Unit.
Marzouki wrote that he had already been convicted to four and eight years in prison in two separate cases.
He concluded his post with a famous quote borrowed from Abu al-Qasim al-Shabi, “Night will no doubt dissipate.”
Last February, a Tunisian court sentenced former president Moncef Marzouki to eight years in prison in absentia.
The charges against Marzouki, who lives in Paris, stemmed from remarks he made that authorities said violated laws and triggered incitement to overthrow the government.
Marzouki served as the first democratically elected president of Tunisia from 2011 to 2014.
This is the second time Moncef Marzouki has been sentenced for comments made at demonstrations and on social media. In December 2021, he received a four-year sentence for undermining state security.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Defence Minister Khaled S'hili announced that Tunisia's national army had dismantled terrorist camps, neutralized 62 landmines, and seized various materials and equipment in 2024, as part of ongoing efforts in the fight against terrorism.
As of October 31, the Tunisian army had conducted 990 anti-terrorist operations in suspected areas, including large-scale operations in the country's mountainous regions. These operations involved over 19,500 military personnel, according to Defense Minister Khaled S'hili, speaking at a joint session of the two chambers of parliament.
He then confirmed that these operations led to the arrest of around 695 smugglers and the seizure of 375,000 drug pills.