Houthis abduct 50 Yemeni employees of UN, US organizations

Internally displaced Yemenis queue to collect portable water at a camp in the Abs District of Hajjah Governorate as the humanitarian crisis continues in Yemen following the start of the civil war in 2014. (File/AFP)

• UN ‘repeatedly warned’ of threat to workers, human rights minister says
• Abductions linked to central bank’s move to shift funds to Aden, embassy official says

AL-MUKALLA: More than 50 Yemenis employed by UN, US and other foreign organizations have been abducted by the Houthis following raids on their homes in Sanaa, the country’s human rights minister said on Friday.
Ahmed Arman said that 18 people working for UN agencies — including the UNDP, OCHA, WFP, High Commissioner for Human Rights and the office of Yemen’s envoy — and at least 32 employed by the US-funded National Democratic Institute, Partners Yemen, the German-funded GIZ, Resonate Yemen and others had been taken.
“The Houthi raids lasted from Thursday morning until approximately 4 a.m. on Friday. They invaded residences of Yemenis working for foreign organizations and even snatched others who used to work with such organizations,” he told Arab News.
The ministry said the arrests were the latest in a series of such moves that began on May 31 when a man and his family, including children, were abducted from their home in Sanaa. Two more homes were raided the following day.
Arman reiterated his call for UN and other foreign organizations to move their headquarters from Houthi-held Sanaa to the Yemeni government’s stronghold in Aden.
“We repeatedly warned the UN that the Houthis treatment of its personnel, mostly Yemenis, would deteriorate, so we requested that they relocate their headquarters to Aden. But the UN dismissed our pleas for reasons we don’t understand,” he said.
The latest abductions came after a Houthi-run court last month condemned a Yemeni businessman working with foreign relief groups and 43 others to death on spying allegations.
Human rights groups, journalists and officials have condemned the raids, with dozens signing an online petition urging the Houthis to release their captives. They also warned the group that their actions could lead to aid agencies leaving the country, which would deprive Yemenis of life-saving humanitarian aid.
“We emphasize that arresting Yemeni personnel working for foreign organizations violates human rights and contributes to the country’s isolation from the rest of the world,” the petition said.
Baligh Al-Mekhlafi, information counselor at the Yemeni Embassy in Cairo, said the Houthis’ campaign against the employees of international organizations was linked to the central bank’s measures against Sanaa-based financial institutions, including sanctioning those that did not relocate their offices to Aden.
“The militia’s craziness is a reaction to the central bank’s painful decision, and the chaos that ensued is obvious proof of the degree of their anguish,” he said on X.
The Ministry of Transportation in Aden on Friday urged travel and tourism agencies in Houthi-held areas to relocate to Aden.
This is the latest in a series of moves by the Yemeni government to relocate major banks, international aid organizations, telecommunications companies and other revenue-generating entities from Sanaa to Aden.
Last week, it asked Yemenia, the country’s national airline, to hold its funds in Aden or overseas rather than in Sanaa banks.
The government has accused the Houthis of stealing millions of dollars of the nation’s money.