流出すれば「大惨事」　イエメン沖で放置の貯蔵施設　国連が懸念

【国連本部ＡＦＰ＝時事】国連（UN）は15日、イエメン沖に放置され、腐食が進んでいる石油貯蔵施設について異例の会合を開き、もしも内部の原油110万バレルが紅海に流出すれば「大惨事」になると懸念を示した。（写真は資料写真）
　イエメン西部ホデイダ港沖に係留されている浮体式海洋石油貯蔵積出設備「セイファー」が建造されたのは４５年前。破損すれば、海洋資源や数万人の貧しい漁民にとって壊滅的な結果をもたらす恐れがある。
　国連環境計画（ＵＮＥＰ）のインガー・アンダーセン事務局長は国連安全保障理事会に対し、同施設の「状態は日々劣化しており、原油流出の可能性が高まっている」と説明。「迫り来る環境的、経済的、人道的大惨事を阻止するために協調して動ける時間は残りわずかだ」と訴えた。
　安保理によるとすでに１４日、ホデイダを掌握しているイエメンの反政府武装勢力フーシ派に対し、同施設の簡単な修理と次の段取りを見極めるための視察チームを送る計画の詳細を送付したという。
　国連は視察チーム派遣について、１２日の時点でフーシ派はおおむね合意していると明かしていた。だがフーシ派は昨年夏にも同様の合意をしていながら、直前になってジブチからの国連視察団の訪問を中止させていた。
　イエメン内戦によって同国北部のほぼ全域をフーシ派が掌握して以降、セイファーは過去５年間、事実上整備なしで放置されている。貯蔵施設には倒壊や爆発の可能性があり、そうした事態が起きれば、周辺地域の生態系の回復に最長３０年かかるような惨事になるだろうと専門家らは指摘している。
　同貯蔵施設の問題は、経済や人道支援などイエメンの他の問題と同様、フーシ派側の交渉の切り札になっている。フーシ派は、重油の売却額をめぐる支配権を確保するためにこの危機を利用しているとして非難されている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/07/22-13:09）

The United Nations held an unusual session Wednesday to express fears of catastrophe if a decaying oil tanker abandoned off Yemen's coast with 1.1 million barrels of crude on board ruptures into the Red Sea.
A breach of the 45-year-old FSO Safer, anchored off the port of Hodeida, would have disastrous results for marine life and tens of thousands of impoverished people who depend on fishing for their livelihood.
Hodeida is under the control of the Iran-backed Huthis.
The UN Security Council said it had sent details of a plan for an inspection team to conduct light repairs and determine the next steps to the Huthi rebels on Tuesday and was expecting a response as soon as possible.
On Sunday, the UN said the Huthis had agreed in principle to the assessment.
But they did the same in the summer of 2019, only to cancel a UN mission from Djibouti at the last minute.
Effectively a floating storage platform, the Safer has had virtually no maintenance for five years since war broke out in the country where the Huthis have seized much of the north from the internationally recognized government.
The tanker could break up or explode, causing a disaster that experts have said could take up to 30 years for the area's ecology to recover from.
A leak in the engine room had been plugged in May, but the British mission to the UN insisted that a permanent solution is urgently needed.
Its condition is deteriorating daily, increasing the potential for an oil spill, Inger Andersen, head of the United Nations Environment Programme, told the Council.
Time is running out for us now to act in a coordinated manner to prevent a looming environmental, economic and humanitarian catastrophe, she said.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock said he hoped a UN assessment mission would be carried out within the next few weeks.
I have briefed you 15 times over the last 15 months on the Safer tanker, he added, hinting at frustration over the lack of action.
Like other economic and aid issues in Yemen, the plight of the tanker has become a bargaining chip, with the Huthis accused of using the threat of disaster to secure control of the value of the cargo.
In June, the Huthis said they wanted guarantees the vessel would be repaired and that the value of the oil on board used to pay salaries of their employees.
But the Yemeni government has said the money for the oil should be used for health and humanitarian projects in the shattered country, which is again on the brink of famine after long years of conflict.
Hodeida port is a lifeline for northern Yemen, with 90 percent of all supplies coming through it.