United States Mission to the United Nations
Office of Press and Public Diplomacy
For Immediate Release
August 11, 2023
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield Applauds the Completion of the FSO Safer Oil Offloading Operation
I welcome the news that the UN has now successfully transferred oil from the decaying FSO Safer supertanker moored off Yemen’s Red Sea coast onto a new vessel. The United States has long been a leading advocate and financial supporter of this project.
Had the world not acted, coastlines across the Horn of Africa and Arabian Peninsula would have been polluted, exposing communities to deadly toxins, and contaminating drinking water supplies for the entire region. Shipping through the Suez Canal would have been disrupted – halting food, fuel, and life-saving supplies that would have exacerbated the already dire humanitarian conditions in Yemen.
At a time when the world faces a host of pressing crises, this is a bright spot, and a model example of international cooperation. Now, we must finish the work by removing the Safer from the Red Sea.
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