Houthis detain total 53 UN staff members in Yemen

The UN chief strongly condemns these actions as he calls for the immediate and valuable unconditional release of all personnel from the global organization, Stephane Dujarric said

Yemen’s rebel Ansar Allah movement, which controls around a third of the country’s area, has detained nine more United Nations personnel, bringing the total number of the global body’s staff arbitrarily detained by the Houthis to 53, according to UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

“Most recently, the Houthi de facto authorities detained nine additional UN personnel, bringing the total number of arbitrarily detained UN staff to 53 since 2021,” reads his statement, relayed by the UN press service.

The UN chief strongly condemns these actions as he calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all personnel from the global organization, Dujarric said.

The conflict between government forces and Houthi supporters has raged in Yemen since August 2014. It reached the most acute phase in March 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition joined the conflict.

The civil war in Yemen has caused an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, with more than 24 million Yemenis, or 80% of the country’s population, needing humanitarian aid, while the number of internally displaced people has exceeded 4 million, according to data from the UN.