Off the coast of war devastated Yemen, is the decaying oil tanker, FSO Safer. The tanker's name betrays the truth: it is loaded with more than a million barrels of crude oil waiting to spill into the Red Sea. The tanker has been anchored off the port of Hudaydah and has not undergone any maintenance in five years since the civil war began. Of course the government and rebels both claim the oil, which has devalued in price but is expected to be worth $40 million. Houthi rebels finally agreed on Sunday to allow UN inspectors on board the vessel after water entered the engine room increasing the chances the derelict would sink or explode. Fortunately, disaster was averted and a temporary fix applied. The UN should not wait for the Houth's to give permission to prevent an ecological disaster.
An oil spill of this magnitude would destroy the regional ecology of the sea as well as displace the livelyhoods of 126,000 people working in the fishing industry. The UN estimates it will take thirty years for fish and coral species to recover from the spill. The UN has called on the Houthi's to allow removal of the oil. Houthi's insist they should be allowed to sell the oil and not share the proceeds with the government they are seeking to overthrow. So far the war has killed over 100,000 Yemenis in the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Twenty-four million people require some form of assistance or protection, and some 2 million children are severely malnourished. The United States has given military aid to the Yemen government via their Saudi and UAE clients. Air strikes by the Saudi Air Force have been responsible for the deaths of 6,872 non-combatants.