According to UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq, “This extraordinary and temporary measure seeks to strike a balance between the need to guarantee the safety and security of the UN personnel and its partners.”
According to Haq, “these assurances are ultimately necessary to ensure the viability and viability of our efforts.”
Seven UN agencies currently operate in Saada – a Houthi stronghold in Yemen’s north – including the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and the children’s agency UNICEF.
Haq claimed the UN is “fully committed to helping the millions of people in need” across the country but that he could not predict how many people in Yemen would be affected by the pause in operations.
According to him, “this pause is to allow the de facto authorities and the UN to arrange the release of arbitrarily detained UN personnel and make sure the necessary conditions are in place to provide critical humanitarian support.”
The Houthis, who did not immediately acknowledge the UN’s decision, have detained dozens of UN staff since 2021, and the group had at least 24 people in detention before the latest arrests.
No UN staffers have yet been revealed, so the organization has currently displayed them in front of television cameras as working with Israeli and Western intelligence agencies.
Following the arrest of an undetermined number of staff members by the rebel group, the UN previously suspended all travel into Houthis-held areas on January 24.
UN personnel’s presence in Saada at the time of their arrest is a mystery. The Iran-backed Houthis have controlled most of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, since seizing power in 2014 and early 2015. The group has been at war with a Saudi-led coalition that is battling on behalf of Yemen’s exiled government.
More than a decade of war has left 150, 000 people dead in Yemen. More than 18 million people in desperate need of assistance are also experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, according to the UN.
The Houthi’s attack on the UN comes as the armed group is putting an end to its offensive against Israeli and international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
In November 2023, the group said it would stop attacking after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire, and that they would do so in solidarity with the people of Gaza.
In January, United States President Donald Trump reinstated the Houthi’s designation as a “terrorist” organisation, which he had put in place during his first term, before it was revoked by US President Joe Biden.
Source: Aljazeera
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