Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels detained 20 United Nations (UN) staff on Sunday, including five Yemenis and 15 international workers. Another 11 people were released by the Houthis after interrogation, TASR reports, according to the AP agency and The Guardian newspaper.
- The Houthis in Yemen detained 20 United Nations staff.
- The incident happened in the capital Sana’a in the Hadda district.
- The UN is in contact with the Houthis to resolve the situation.
- Rebels seized communications equipment from the UN facility.
- The UN denies the rebels’ accusations of espionage.
A spokesman for the UN representative for Yemen, Jean Alam, told the AP that UN employees were detained in a facility in the southwestern quarter of the capital, Sana Hadda. According to The Guardian, this was the second attack on the UN building in the Yemeni capital in the last 24 hours.
According to Alamo, the organization is in contact with the Houthis and other parties in order to “resolved this serious situation as quickly as possible, ended the detention of all employees and restored full control of its facilities in Sana’a”.
Another UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Yemeni rebels had seized all communications equipment from the facility, including phones, servers and computers. According to him, the detained employees work in several UN agenciesincluding the World Food Program (WFP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The Houthis have carried out repeated raids against the UN and other international organizations in Yemen and have so far detained more than 50 UN employees, according to AP. The rebels claim that the detained persons and people working for other international organizations and foreign embassies are spies. The UN strongly denies these allegations.
