Sweden is giving an additional SEK 20 million to the effort to prevent an oil disaster in the Red Sea outside Yemen. The development assistance authority Sida is thus donating a total of SEK 50 million this year.
“The people of Yemen are already suffering from one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. A discharge on the country’s coast would hit millions of vulnerable people very hard. We must act now “, says Minister for Development Aid Matilda Ernkrans (S) in a press release.
The 46-year-old oil tanker FSO Safer, with over a million barrels of crude oil on board, has been anchored for seven years without maintenance near the Huthi rebel-controlled port of al-Hudaydah. According to the UN, an oil disaster is imminent due to the ship’s poor condition.
In a first step, the UN action plan costs SEK 800 million. Through Sida earlier this year, Sweden contributed SEK 30 million.