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Following the 12 May sabotage attacks on four tankers off Fujairah the LMA Joint War Commission (JWC) has added the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to its listed areas for Hull War, Piracy, Terrorism and Related Perils.
The decision by the JWC was taken on Friday, following a meeting earlier in the week where it had deferred a decision on amending its list of war risk areas.
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Source: seatrade-maritime.com
By Stephen Kalin, Alexander Cornwell and Dahlia Nehme
RIYADH/DUBAI (Reuters) – Attacks on Saudi tankers and other vessels off the coast of the United Arab Emirates this week expose vulnerabilities in the security of a key oil-shipping route amid rising tensions between the United States, Iran and Gulf Arab states.
The operation near the Strait of Hormuz appeared designed to test the resolve of the United States and its Sunni Muslim allies without triggering a war, after Washington tightened sanctions on Iran and beefed up its military presence nearby.
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Source: euronews.com
Lagos – The Nigeria Police Force said it has uncovered plots by some subversive elements masquerading as climate and environmental activists to commence massive and coordinated attacks on oil installations across the country especially in the Niger-Delta region and adjoining states.
These plots, according to a statement by Frank Mba, the Force image maker, on Wednesday, were politically motivated, and aimed at sabotaging oil installations with intended negative consequences on national security, economic development and global oil market.
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Source: independent.ng
By Oludare Richards
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the European Union (EU) have committed €155 million (about $173 million) to address issues associated with maritime insecurity and related clandestine networks of dirty money in West Africa.
The ECOWAS Commission targets the insecurity situation in the Gulf of Guinea, which it said had adverse effect on the health and economic indices of ECOWAS member states.
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Source: guardian.ng
The UN says Houthi rebels have pulled out of three key Red Sea ports in Yemen, in partial implementation of a ceasefire deal agreed six months ago.
Hudaydah, Salif and Ras Issa were handed over to the coast guard.
The UN said work was still needed to remove trenches, barriers and mines – and to implement the rest of the deal.
The Houthis and pro-government forces, which are backed by a Saudi-led coalition, agreed to leave the ports to allow in vital humanitarian aid.
However, the BBC’s Lyse Doucet says some Yemenis are sceptical about the latest pull-out and accuse the Houthis of leaving fighters in the ports disguised as coast guard personnel.
Yemen’s government has previously warned that the withdrawal would be a rebel “ploy”.
The UN says at least 7,070 civilians have been killed and 11,205 injured in the fighting, with 65% of the deaths attributed to Saudi-led coalition air strikes.
Thousands more civilians have died from preventable causes, including malnutrition, disease and poor health.
About 80% of the population – 24 million people – need humanitarian assistance and protection, and almost 10 million who the UN says are just a step away from famine. Almost 240,000 of those people are facing “catastrophic levels of hunger”.
Lt Gen Michael Lollesgaard, head of the UN’s Redeployment Co-ordination Committee (RCC) in Hudaydah, welcomed the Houthi withdrawal from the ports in western Yemen.
He said that since Saturday there had been “very good co-operation” with Houthi commanders and that the UN had been given access to all areas of the ports.
“Today we have together seen the redeployment and we have also agreed that there are a few outstanding issues,” he said.
“There are two minefields in Ras Issa and Salif and trenches in this port [Hudaydah] that need to be removed.”
He urged all sides to help implement the next stages of the peace deal.
Hudaydah port is the main lifeline for two-thirds of Yemen’s population and its closure has had a devastating impact.
Under the local ceasefire deal brokered by the UN in Stockholm last December, the warring parties agreed to redeploy their forces from Hudaydah city and the ports of Hudaydah, Salif and Ras Issa.
The Houthi withdrawal marked the first major step in bringing that ceasefire agreement into being.
Pro-government forces have twice tried to seize the port, and accuse the Houthis of using it to smuggle in weapons from Iran. The rebels and Tehran both deny these accusations.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk
The UK War Risks Club, which provides specialist insurance for ships, is investigating the incidents of sabotage of vessels in Fujairah port over the weekend and has not decided on additional premiums for the region, a company executive said Monday.
The club, managed by insurance provider Thomas Miller, is one of the providers of marine Protection and Indemnity or P&I insurance, including additional war risks insurance for incidents like civil war, piracy or other disturbances.
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Source: hellenicshippingnews.com
Rania El Gamal, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin
DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia said on Monday that two of its oil tankers were among those attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and said it was an attempt to undermine the security of crude supplies amid tensions between the United States and Iran.
The UAE said on Sunday that four commercial vessels were sabotaged near Fujairah emirate, one of the world’s largest bunkering hubs lying just outside the Strait of Hormuz, but did not describe the nature of the attack or say who was behind it.
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Source: reuters.com
Suriname is the latest country to benefit from IMO maritime security training. Participants at a workshop in Paramaribo, Suriname (7-8 May) took part in table-top contingency planning exercises involving a variety of maritime security issues. These included threats to cruise ships, border security issues involving ports, airports and land border crossing, as well as potential incidents involving proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and arms and drugs consignments.
The main objective of the exercise was to encourage a multi-agency, whole of government approach to maritime and port facility security and related maritime law enforcement issues – with participants working to identify gaps in national procedures or legislation, opportunities for improvement, and further needs for training or technical assistance.
The exercise took place following a request by Suriname to assist the country in strengthening its implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004) – specifically those that fall within the scope of IMO’s SOLAS chapter XI-2 and the ISPS Code and/or the 1988 and 2005 SUA treaties (click for details of these treaties).
The workshop was organised in collaboration with the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC).
Source: imo.org
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s dusk-to-dawn sea curfew which ends today (May 10) will be extended for another two weeks until May 26 (Sunday), says Police Commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah.
He said the extension of the 6pm-to-6am curfew was needed due to continuous threats from cross-border criminals, including from kidnap-for-ransom groups.
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Source: thestar.com.my
Saeed al-Abyad
The Iran-backed Houthi militias have been trying to lure army forces deployed to the outskirts of the coastal city of Hodeidah into armed confrontation.
Analysts said the militias are plotting to break the UN-brokered Stockholm agreement, which was signed last December.
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Source: aawsat.com
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