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Saudi Arabia says 375 civilians killed on its border in Yemen war
- As Kabul suicide bombing kills 20
Mortars and rockets fired at Saudi Arabian towns and villages have killed 375 civilians, including 63 children, since the start of the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen in late March, Riyadh said on Monday.
Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, told Reuters that the Houthi militia and army forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh had fired more than 40,000 projectiles across the border since the war began.
“Now our rules of engagement are: you are close to the border, you are killed,” he said.
In a measure of how fierce the fighting on the frontier continues to be, nearly 130 mortars and 15 missiles were fired by the Houthis and Saleh’s forces at Saudi border positions on Monday alone, Asseri said in an interview in Riyadh.
Riyadh has been sharply criticised for civilian casualties in coalition air strikes and on Sunday announced it was improving its targeting mechanisms and would form a committee to investigate claims it had hit non-military targets.
Around 6,000 people, about half of them civilians, have been killed in fighting and coalition air strikes in Yemen since the war began, according to the United Nations. The civilians killed in Saudi Arabia included both Saudis and expatriates, Asseri said.
Riyadh’s campaign was launched to stop the Houthis, who are allied to Riyadh’s main regional foe Iran, from gaining complete control over Yemen after they seized the capital in 2014 and drove President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile.
Yemeni forces backed by the coalition pushed the Houthis from the main southern port city of Aden in June and from the northeastern town of Marib in September, but have since made little territorial progress.
Fighting has continued since September in Yemen’s third-largest city of Taiz. The Houthis and Saleh’s forces hold the surrounding mountains and coalition-backed forces inside the city and to the south have been unable to break their siege.
Along the Saudi-Yemen border, the constant attacks by the Houthis and Saleh’s forces have forced Riyadh to evacuate a dozen villages and displace over 7,000 people from frontier districts, closing over 500 schools, Asseri said.
He said the coalition had taken “hundreds” of Yemeni prisoners in fighting along the border.
Asseri acknowledged that the forces were locked in what he described as a “static war”, but said the coalition was now fighting to control the mountainous Nahm region, which controls access to the capital Sanaa 70 km (40 miles) to the southwest.
Humanitarian organisations have criticised the coalition for its naval blockade of Yemen, aimed at stopping the Houthis from gaining military supplies, but which they say has pushed the country to the brink of famine.
Asseri said the coalition was now allowing more ships to dock both at Aden and the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port of Hodeida. The coalition conducts random inspections of cargo, he said, but added that it believes some weapons are smuggled through.
Meanwhile, a suicide bomber has killed 20 people at a police headquarters in the Afghan capital Kabul, officials say.
At least 25 others were wounded in the blast in the west of the city, the interior ministry said.
Some reports suggest most of those killed and injured were police officers. Earlier reports said most of the dead were civilians.
The Taliban said they carried out the bombing – one of a string of attacks in Kabul and elsewhere in recent months.
Monday’s attack happened at the entrance of the headquarters of the National Civil Order Police, a unit that has a counterinsurgency role against the Taliban.
Officials initially blamed a suicide car bomber, but later said the attacker had joined people queuing to get into the police station before he detonated his explosives.
“I saw three dead bodies on the ground and a number of other people wounded, then ambulances arrived and took all the victims away from the attack site,” one man told Reuters news agency.
The bombing follows a spate of attacks in January, one of which killed seven staff from the Tolo media group in Kabul. Several other attacks were near foreign diplomatic missions.
There has been speculation that the attacks may be aimed at destabilising attempts to revive peace talks with the Taliban.
Others have suggested that the Taliban’s winter offensive may be an attempt by their new leader to strengthen his hand in any talks.
MSN
…Stresses the need for timely disbursement of N44.6billion CVFF***
Highly revered Nigerian Maritime Lawyer, and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mike Igbokwe has urged the Nigeria Maritime Administration and safety Agency (NIMASA) to partner with ship owners and relevant association in the industry to evolving a more vibrant merchant shipping and cabotage trade regime.
Igbokwe gave the counsel during his paper presentation at the just concluded two-day stakeholders’ meeting on Cabotage waiver restrictions, organized by NIMASA.
“NIMASA and shipowners should develop merchant shipping including cabotage trade. A good start is to partner with the relevant associations in this field, such as the Nigeria Indigenous Shipowners Association (NISA), Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN), Oil Trade Group & Maritime Trade Group of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA).
“A cursory look at their vision, mission and objectives, show that they are willing to improve the maritime sector, not just for their members but for stakeholders in the maritime economy and the country”.
Adding that it is of utmost importance for NIMASA to have a through briefing and regular consultation with ships owners, in other to have insight on the challenges facing the ship owners.
“It is of utmost importance for NIMASA to have a thorough briefing and regular consultations with shipowners, to receive insight on the challenges they face, and how the Agency can assist in solving them and encouraging them to invest and participate in the maritime sector, for its development.
“NIMASA should see them as partners in progress because, if they do not invest in buying ships and registering them in Nigeria, there would be no Nigerian-owned ships in its Register and NIMASA would be unable to discharge its main objective.
The Maritime lawyer also urged NIMASA to disburse the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF)that currently stands at about N44.6 billion.
“Lest it be forgotten, what is on the lips of almost every shipowner, is the need to disburse the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (the CVFF’), which was established by the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act, 2003. It was established to promote the development of indigenous ship acquisition capacity, by providing financial assistance to Nigerian citizens and shipping companies wholly owned by Nigerian operating in the domestic coastal shipping, to purchase and maintain vessels and build shipping capacity.
“Research shows that this fund has grown to about N44.6billion; and that due to its non-disbursement, financial institutions have repossessed some vessels, resulting in a 43% reduction of the number of operational indigenous shipping companies in Nigeria, in the past few years.
“Without beating around the bush, to promote indigenous maritime development, prompt action must be taken by NIMASA to commence the disbursement of this Fund to qualified shipowners pursuant to the extant Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (“CVFF”) Regulations.
“Indeed, as part of its statutory functions, NIMASA is to enforce and administer the provisions of the Cabotage Act 2003 and develop and implement policies and programmes which will facilitate the growth of local capacity in ownership, manning and construction of ships and other maritime infrastructure. Disbursing the CVFF is one of the ways NIMASA can fulfill this mandate.
“To assist in this task, there must be collaboration between NIMASA, financial institutions, the Minister of Transportation, as contained in the CVFF Regulations that are yet to be implemented”, the legal guru highlighted further.
He urged the agency to create the right environment for its stakeholders to build on and engender the needed capacities to fill the gaps; and ensure that steps are being taken to solve the challenges being faced by stakeholders.
“Lastly, which is the main reason why we are all here, cessation of ministerial waivers on some cabotage requirements, which I believe is worth applause in favour of NIMASA.
“This is because it appears that the readiness to obtain/grant waivers had made some of the vessels and their owners engaged in cabotage trade, to become complacent and indifferent in quickly ensuring that they updated their capacities, so as not to require the waivers.
“The cessation of waivers is a way of forcing the relevant stakeholders of the maritime sector, to find workable solutions within, for maritime development and fill the gaps in the local capacities in 100% Nigerian crewing, ship ownership, and ship building, that had necessitated the existence of the waivers since about 15 years ago, when the Cabotage Act came into being.
“However, NIMASA must ensure that the right environment is provided for its stakeholders to build and possess the needed capacities to fill the gaps; and ensure that steps are being taken to solve the challenges being faced by stakeholders. Or better still, that they are solved within the next 5 years of its intention to stop granting waivers”, he further explained.
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…As Valles Steamship Orders 112,000 dwt Tanker from South Korea***
A wind farm supply vessel and a cargo ship collided in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday leaving 15 injured.
The Cyprus-flagged 80-meter general cargo ship Raba collided with Denmark-flagged 31-meter wind farm supply vessel World Bora near Rügen Island, about three nautical miles off the coast of Hamburg.
Many of those injured were service engineers on the wind farm vessel, and 10 were seriously hurt.
They were headed to Iberdrola’s 350MW Wikinger wind farm. Nine of the people on board the World Bora were employees of Siemens Gamesa, two were employees of Iberdrola and four were crew.
The cause of the incident is not yet known, and no pollution has been reported.
After the collision, the two ships were able to proceed to Rügen under their own power, and the injured were then taken to hospital.
Lifeboat crews from the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service tended to them prior to their transport to hospital via ambulance and helicopter.
“Iberdrola wishes to thank the rescue services for their diligence and professionalism,” the company said in a statement.
In the meantime, the Hong Kong-based shipowner Valles Steamship has ordered a new 112,000 dwt crude oil tanker from South Korea’s Sumitomo Heavy Industries Marine & Engineering.
Sumitomo is to deliver the Aframax to Valles Steamship by the end of 2020, according to data provided by Asiasis.
The newbuild Aframax will join seven other Aframaxes in Valles Steamship’s fleet. Other ships operated by the company include Panamax bulkers and medium and long range product tankers.
The company’s most-recently delivered unit is the 114,426 dwt Aframax tanker Seagalaxy. The naming and delivery of the tanker took place in February 2019, at Namura Shipbuilding’s yard in Japan.
Maritime Executive with additional report from World Maritime News
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