Contributors
Error processing SSI file
|
home |
previous |
next
French Aircraft Carrier Blocked from Suez Transit
Clemenceau Barred by Egypt
January 14, 2006
(Photo: www.nimbustier.net)
Update: (February 15, 2006) French President Jacques Chirac has ordered the ship to return to France.
(VizReport) In a very interesting tie-in to recent concerns about potential conflict on the Red Sea, Greenpeace has suddenly--perhaps unwittingly at most levels--become a key player in a complex regional security equation.
The decommissioned French aircraft carrier, the Clemenceau, was scheduled to be towed to a ship-breaking yard in India this winter, but an alarm has been raised by environmentalists and human rights organisations concerning the amount of asbestos and other hazardous materials that may still be aboard the giant vessel.
What most people don't know about the 100+ mile canal that stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, is that it's generally a uni-directional channel. While it will accommodate the cross-passage of large ships at several points over its course, most notably at the two lakes found along the route, there are long stretches during which this is not possible. The channel will bear a ship as long as 500m and as wide as 70m, but this presents a problem if the single tug towing the giant ship should run into a problem midway along one of the narrower sections. The Clemenceau is almost 52 metres wide and its engines are not operational. If disabled in mid-canal, other large ships would not be able to pass her by.
This is where Greenpeace comes into the picture. After being alerted that the ship was leaving France and would be transiting the Suez Canal on its way to India, the idea was suggested that Greenpeace should call upon Egypt to restrict the ship from entering the canal for environmental reasons. Indeed, they have been successful in this quest and the floating behemoth now bobs about 30 miles from the canal entrance, in the Med.
There are three positions that one can take with regard to these actions by the well-known environmental crusaders:
1) That they came up with the idea on their own and this has nothing to do with the evolving security dynamic in the Red Sea region.
2) That a pro-Western security group, knowing of the Sudan-Eritrea-Libya (SEL) pact, made the suggestion in order to prevent the Clemenceau being placed into the canal and creating a potential bottleneck to military and commercial traffic.
3) That a group, working with SELpact, promoted the measure in order to delay the passage of the Clemenceau until a more propitious window emerged.
Check up on the progress of this issue by periodically searching "clemenceau" on your favourite news engine.
Viz
--
Error processing SSI file
|
Error processing SSI file
|
