Tuesday, 22 December, 2020 - 09:30
A picture of an oil spill in one of the pipelines under study in Shabwa governorate, Yemen, Asharq Al-Awsat Riyadh - Abdulhadi Habtor
A new Yemeni study has raised the alarm on the southern Shabwa governorate facing the threat of environmental catastrophe brought about by oil leaks hemorrhaging from rundown production and export pipelines.
Prepared by a Romania-based consultancy, the study urged the government and local authorities to take the findings seriously and commit operating companies to fixing leaks.
It also called for enforcing speedy and proactive measures to avert any repercussions the oil spills can have on locals and agriculture before it is too late.
A crisis with no end in sight: How the ongoing crisis in Taiz Governorate continues to put civilians at risk
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For almost six years, civilians have borne the brunt of the conflict in Yemen.
Active fighting continues, including airstrikes, shelling and ground fighting. All parties to the conflict have shown disregard for international humanitarian law (IHL), attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure including roads, medical centres and healthcare facilities, schools, factories, water and electricity infrastructure, farms, public marketplaces and civilian vehicles. Even settlements for internally displaced people (IDPs) have been hit.
December 2020 marks two years since the warring parties came together to sign the Stockholm Agreement, a UN-brokered accord that contained three parts:
Decay inside the FSO Safer, moored off Ras Issa port, Yemen, in 2019. (I.R. Consilium via AP)
Prof. Maoz Fine, one of the report’s Israeli authors, told The Times of Israel that the article was submitted before the Houthis relented a fortnight ago.
“They’ve given permission, which they’ve given and withdrawn in the past. We need to see that things actually happen now and that the oil is removed and the tanker is dragged to the shore to be dismantled,” he said.
It’s unclear how long the tanker has until disaster strikes, but signs point to time rapidly running out.
Yemen: People still killed and maimed daily two years since Stockholm Agreement
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10 Dec 2020
A new wave of violence has flared in the governorate at the heart of Yemen’s Stockholm Agreement, threatening the ceasefire signed in December 2018 to halt fierce fighting in Hodeidah port city. Two years on from that agreement, over a thousand people (1,249) have been maimed or killed by armed conflict in Hodeidah governorate. This single governorate accounts for almost a quarter of all deaths and injuries in Yemen since the agreement was inked.
New figures show that this spike in violence is happening across different parts of the country. October was the most violent month recorded all year, bringing the total number of casualties in Yemen since the agreement to 5,267 – or 7 civilians a day.