UAE: Houthi piracy threatens international navigation and trade in the Red Sea
English - Monday 10 January 2022 الساعة 04:30 pm
NewsYemen, agencies:
The representative of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations, Lana Nusseibeh, said on Monday that the Rawabi ship, which was kidnapped by the Houthi militia - the Iranian arm in Yemen - was carrying medical aid, explaining that it was carrying equipment for the Saudi field hospital that was established on the island of Socotra.
The representative of the Emirates stated that the crew of the Rawabi ship includes 11 people of different nationalities, calling for the immediate release of the ship and its crew.
In a letter from the UAE government to the Security Council, the UAE delegate said that the hijacking of the Rawabi ship is not the first incident of the Houthis in the Red Sea, as the Houthi militia had intercepted and detained at least 3 commercial ships before.
It added that the Houthi militia targeted 13 commercial ships with booby-trapped boats and mines, stressing that Houthi piracy contradicts international law.
Ambassador Nusseibeh stressed that Houthi piracy raises real concerns for the freedom and security of navigation and international trade in the Red Sea.
The letter signed by Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh about the UAE-flagged cargo ship Rawabi, which was hijacked by the Houthis at 19:00 on the night of January 3, 25 nautical miles west of the Yemeni ports of Salif and Hodeidah, confirmed that the Houthi militia continues to detain the hijacked ship and its crew of sailors. illegally in Sayegh port, after being hijacked by force, and the AIS system on board the ship was suspended at a distance of 18 nautical miles from Salif port, at 21:17 GMT that same night.
The UAE protest letter also said that the Rawabi ship, when it was intercepted and hijacked, was traveling within an international shipping line, on its way from Socotra Island in Yemen, to the port of Jizan in Saudi Arabia.
And it added, "As for the Rawabi cargo, it was a civilian equipment that was carried out by a Saudi company, and was used in a Saudi field hospital."
And it continued, "As for the crew of the ship, it consists of 11 sailors of different nationalities, 7 Indians, an Ethiopian, an Indonesian, a Filipino and another from Myanmar."
The UAE government stressed in its letter that these acts of piracy are contrary to international law, and pose a serious threat to the safety of navigation and international trade in the Red Sea, as well as to regional security and stability.
In its letter to the Security Council, the UAE government denounced the illegal Houthi actions, renewing its demand for the immediate release of the detained ship and its crew.
