Yemeni minister says Houthis abducted 70 Yemenis, including 18 UN staff

AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s human rights minister demanded on Monday that the UN close its offices in Sanaa and shift its workers to the southern city of Aden to safeguard them from the Houthis’ escalating crackdown.

Ahmed Arman told Arab News that the number of Yemeni personnel abducted by the Houthis during their continuing crackdown has risen to 70, and the Houthis have broadened their campaign to include employees of public institutions.

“We urge the United Nations to shut its Sanaa offices, boycott talks with the Houthis, and transfer humanitarian relief from Houthi-controlled regions to the legitimate government crossings and ports,” the Yemeni minister said.

Since late May, the Houthis have attacked the homes and offices of Yemenis working for the UN Yemen envoy’s office, the World Food Programme, the UN Development Programme, UNESCO, and other UN agencies, as well as Yemenis working for the US-funded National Democratic Institute, Partners Yemen, the German-funded GIZ, and Resonate Yemen.

The Houthis also seized former Yemeni personnel at the US, Japanese, and Dutch embassies in Yemen, as well as Ahmed Hussein Al-Nunu, a senior official and educationalist at the Ministry of Education in Sanaa.

Arman said that the number of abducted persons has increased from 50 in the early days of the operation to 70 presently, including five women and 18 UN personnel, who were held incommunicado at an intelligence and security detention facility in Sanaa.

The arrests occurred as the Houthis claimed to have unearthed an espionage network connected to the US and Israel, which was responsible for transferring important military intelligence to the two countries while also causing damage to Yemen’s education, agricultural, and health sectors.

At the same time, international rights groups and UN officials have urged the Houthis to free the workers, saying that the militia’s persecution of foreign relief organizations is exacerbating Yemen’s humanitarian crisis.

CARE International, Oxfam, and Save the Children repeated their request in a joint statement on Sunday for the Houthis to provide information on the kidnapped workers and release them, saying that the “unprecedented” crackdown will delay relief deliveries to Yemen’s 18.2 million people.

“Humanitarian organizations and aid workers dedicate their efforts to support the people of Yemen and do so by abiding with humanitarian principles,” the three organizations that operate in Yemen said in the statement.

“Targeting of humanitarian, human rights, and development workers in Yemen must stop. All those detained must be immediately released,” they said.

On Sunday, UN Yemen envoy Hans Grundberg reiterated the same call for the Houthis to free the workers and halt their human rights violations against Yemenis in regions under their control.

“He specifically repeated the demand for the immediate and unconditional release of UN personnel and aid, and civil society workers who were arbitrarily detained in Sanaa and continue to be held in incommunicado detention,” Grundberg’s office said in a statement. 

Meanwhile, the US Central Command said on Monday that its forces destroyed two drones in Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, while US-led marine task forces intercepted two Houthi drones over the Gulf of Aden in the last 24 hours.

This comes as maritime security groups that monitor ship attacks have not reported any new attacks in international trade lanes off Yemen in the last seven days, despite the militia saying it would increase its anti-ship campaign in support of the Palestinian people.

Since November, the Houthis have carried out over 100 drone, missile, and drone boat strikes on commercial and navy ships in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Indian Ocean. The Houthis claim they solely target Israel-linked ships to pressure Israel to halt its war in the Palestinian Gaza Strip.