Yemen’s Houthis detain UN staff, aid workers

UN says it is ‘pursuing all available channels’ to secure the safe release of its personnel ‘as soon as possible’.

Yemen’s Houthi group is detaining at least 11 United Nations personnel, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric has said, calling for the staff’s unconditional release.

Dujarric said on Friday the UN was seeking clarification from the Houthis about why the Yemeni employees were detained. The two women and nine men work for five different UN agencies and the UN envoy for Yemen.

“We’re pursuing all available channels to secure the safe and unconditional release of all of them as rapidly as possible,” said Dujarric, adding that the UN also wanted access to the staff.

In a series of raids, armed Houthi intelligence officers also detained three employees of the US-funded pro-democracy group National Democratic Institute (NDI) and three employees of a local human rights group, three officials of Yemen’s internationally recognised government told Reuters on Friday.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) decried the detentions, saying that the Yemeni group’s refusal to disclose the location of the detained individuals “can amount to enforced disappearance” under international law.