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Stephane Dujarric News

19 Jul 2023

Russia Carries Out Air Strikes on Ukraine's Odesa Port

© kaetana / Adobe Stock

Ukrainian air defence systems were engaged in the early hours of Wednesday in repelling a Russian air attack on the southern port of Odesa for a second consecutive night, the region's governor said.Russia struck Ukrainian ports on Tuesday, a day after pulling out of a U.N.-backed deal for safe Black Sea grain exports, a decision that raised concern primarily in Africa and Asia of rising food prices and hunger."Do not approach the windows, do not shoot or show the work of air defence forces…

18 Jul 2023

UN Set to Start Removing Oil from Decaying Yemen Tanker FSO Safer

(Photo: United Nations)

An operation to start removing some 1.1 million barrels of oil from a decaying tanker moored off Yemen's coast could start by the end of the week, the United Nations said on Tuesday.U.N. officials have been warning for years that the Red Sea and Yemen's coastline were at risk as the tanker Safer could spill four times as much oil as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said a vessel to which the oil will be transferred is less than 2 miles (3km) away and "making final preparations to moor next to the Safer…

13 Jul 2023

UN Asks Putin to Extend Black Sea Grain Deal in Return for SWIFT Access

© Elena / Adobe Stock

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he extend a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine in return for connecting a subsidiary of Russia's agricultural bank to the SWIFT international payment system, sources told Reuters.Russia has threatened to ditch the grain deal, which expires on Monday, because several demands to dispatch its own grain and fertilizer abroad have not been met. The last two ships…

23 May 2023

UN Concerned by Lack of Grain Ships Going to One Ukrainian Port

© Aleksandr Lesik / Adobe Stock

The United Nations expressed concern on Monday that Ukraine's Black Sea port of Pivdennyi (Yuzhny) has not received any ships since May 2 under a deal allowing the safe wartime export of grain and fertilizer.U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric did not say who was to blame for the lack of ships traveling to the port, near Odesa, which is also where Russia used to pump up to 2.5 million tonnes of ammonia annually for export via a pipeline from Togliati.That pipeline has been shut down since Moscow's February 2022 invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

17 Oct 2022

Russia is Prepared to Quit Black Sea Grains Deal

(Photo: Ukraine Ministry of Transport)

Moscow has submitted concerns to the United Nations about an agreement on Black Sea grain exports, and is prepared to reject renewing the deal next month unless its demands are addressed, Russia's Geneva U.N. ambassador told Reuters on Thursday.The agreement, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July, paved the way for Ukraine to resume grain exports from Black Sea ports that had been shut since Russia invaded. Moscow won guarantees for its own grain and fertilizer exports.The…

09 Aug 2022

Russia, Ukraine Agree to Protect Ukraine Grain Shipping Channel

© Elena / Adobe Stock

Ships exporting Ukraine grain through the Black Sea will be protected by a 10 nautical mile buffer zone, according to long-awaited procedures agreed by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations on Monday and seen by Reuters.The United Nations and Turkey brokered a deal last month after Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine halted grain exports, stoking a global food crisis that the United Nations says has pushed tens of millions more people into hunger.Since then Russia, Ukraine…

03 Aug 2022

First Ukraine Grain Ship Cleared to Passes Through the Bosphorus

The Joint Coordination Centre officials perform an inspection aboard Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni, carrying Ukrainian grain, in the Black Sea off Kilyos, near Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo; Turkish Defense Ministry)

The first grain ship to leave a Ukrainian port in wartime passed through the Bosphorus Strait on Wednesday en route to Lebanon for a delivery that foreign powers hope will be the first of many to help ease a global food crisis.The Razoni left Odesa on the Black Sea early on Monday carrying 26,527 tonnes of corn and anchored at the entrance of the Bosphorus Strait on Tuesday night.The shipment was made possible after Turkey and the United Nations brokered a grain and fertilizer…

02 Aug 2022

Shipping Arrangements Into Ukraine Still Not Ready

© galitskaya / Adobe Stock

Key arrangements including procedures for ships still need to be worked out before empty vessels can come in and pick up cargoes from Ukraine using the new grains corridor, a senior London marine insurance market official said on Monday.Turkey and the United Nations brokered a grain-and-fertilizer export agreement between Russia and Ukraine last month - a rare diplomatic breakthrough in a conflict that is grinding on with no resolution in sight."The standard operating procedures for vessels still need to be worked out and there are issues about crewing that still need to be resolved…

15 Jun 2022

Turkey Says Ukraine Grain Ships Could Avoid Mines

© Elena / Adobe Stock

Russia on Wednesday said it has offered "safe passage" for Ukraine grain shipments from the country's Black Sea ports but is not responsible for establishing the corridors, as Turkey suggested that ships could be guided around sea mines.Ukrainian grain shipments have stalled since Russia's invasion and ports blockade, stoking global prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer. The United Nations is trying to broker a deal to resume Ukraine grain exports and Russian food and fertilizer exports…

02 Feb 2021

UN Bid to Avert Oil Spill Off Yemen Uncertain as Houthis Mull 'Review'

Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies

Yemen's Houthi group has advised the United Nations to pause preparations to deploy a team to assess a decaying oil tanker threatening to spill 1.1 million barrels of crude oil off the war-torn country's coast, a U.N. spokesman said on Tuesday.The tanker Safer has been stranded off Yemen's Red Sea oil terminal of Ras Issa for more than five years, and U.N. officials have warned it could spill four times as much oil as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.Houthi authorities gave long-awaited approval in November for a visit to assess the tanker. A U.N.

25 Nov 2020

Houthis Approve UN Plan to Assess Decaying Oil Tanker off Yemen

Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies

Houthi authorities in Yemen have given long-awaited approval for a United Nations plan to visit and assess a deteriorating oil tanker off Yemen's coast that is threatening to spill 1.1 million barrels of crude oil into the Red Sea.Staff and equipment could be expected to arrive at the tanker by late January or early February, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Tuesday.Hussein al-Azzi, the Houthi deputy foreign minister, said on Sunday Houthi authorities had sent a letter confirming they would welcome the U.N.

14 Aug 2020

UN Urges Yemen's Houthis to Grant Access to Decaying Oil Tanker

File photo: U.N. Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres (UN Photo/Evan Schneider)

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Yemen's Houthi group to allow an assessment team to travel to a decaying oil tanker that is threatening to spill 1.1 million barrels of crude oil off the war-torn country's coast.More then a month ago Houthi officials said they would agree to allow a U.N. mission to conduct a technical assessment and whatever initial repairs might be feasible on the Safer tanker. But the United Nations is still waiting for formal authorization.Guterres is "deeply concerned" about the condition of the oil tanker, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.

14 Jun 2019

UN Calls for Investigation on Tanker Attacks

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Friday for an independent investigation to establish the facts and who was responsible for attacks on two oil tankers this week in the Gulf of Oman.The United States blamed Iran for the attacks on Thursday, a charge Tehran rejected. Amid the rising tensions, Guterres said he was available to mediate if the parties agreed, however he added that "at the present moment we don't see a mechanism of dialogue possible to be in place."Tehran and Washington have both said they have no interest in starting a war, but this has done little to assuage concerns that the two arch foes could stumble into a conflict.

03 May 2016

UN to Start Inspecting Commercial Shipments to Yemen

The United Nations will start inspecting shipments to rebel-held ports in Yemen in a bid to boost commercial imports and enforce an arms embargo, the world body said on Tuesday, some eight months after announcing it would establish such a procedure. Yemen relies almost solely on imports, but a 14-month long conflict between Houthi rebels and a Saudi Arabian-led coalition has slowed to a trickle commercial shipments to the impoverished country where 80 percent of people need humanitarian aid. The United Nations announced in September it would set up a verification and inspection mechanism. Then in October U.N. aid chief Stephen O'Brien said the United Nations was still trying to raise some $8 million to fund the Djibouti-based operation. It began operations on Monday, U.N.

14 May 2015

UN Chief Alarmed SE Asian States Turning Away Migrant Boats

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that he is alarmed by reports that some countries in Southeast Asia may be refusing entry to boats adrift at sea with several thousand refugees and migrants. Thailand declined permission for a migrant boat to land on Thursday while Malaysia said it would push boats back out to sea. "The secretary-general urges governments to ensure that the obligation of rescue at sea is upheld and the prohibition on refoulement is maintained," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. "He also urges governments to facilitate timely disembarkation and keep their borders and ports open in order to help the vulnerable people who are in need," he said.

17 Apr 2014

UN Seeks Sanctions Waiver to Ship Arms to Mali

The United Nations is seeking an exemption from a U.N. Security Council arms embargo on Ivory Coast so it can ship weapons and military equipment across the East African nation to its peacekeeping mission in landlocked Mali, a spokesman said on Thursday. The statement came after U.N. sanctions monitors called for the world body to stop allowing arms to be shipped to the U.N. mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, through Ivory Coast after they said a load of military hardware sent by China violated U.N. restrictions. "We are engaged with the secretariat of the sanctions committee to seek a standing waiver for the transfer through Ivory Coast of arms and equipment under embargo that's intended solely for use by the U.N. mission," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.