Following the takeover of the UN office in the capital Sanaa by Huthi rebels, who also detained dozens of staff members from various organizations, the Yemeni government has demanded that the UN relocate to the second city, Aden.
“We reiterate the call for the United Nations mission, all UN agencies, international organisations operating in Yemen… to immediately move their headquarters to the interim capital, Aden, and the liberated areas,” Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said on Tuesday on social media platform X.
The internationally recognized government was forced to escape to Aden when the Huthis, who are backed by Iran, overran the nation’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014 and took control of most of its major population centers.
The following year, a coalition headed by Saudi Arabia intervened to support the struggling administration.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ office claimed on Tuesday that on August 3, rebels broke into its Sanaa location and demanded that its employees turn in the office’s keys and all of its belongings.
“This serious development comes nearly two months after the wave of kidnappings launched by the Huthi militia,” Eryani said, adding it was an escalation of the rebel movement’s “repressive measures against international and humanitarian organisations operating in the areas under its control”.
According to the UN, the rebels detained around 50 NGO employees, an embassy worker, and 13 UN staffers in June. In November 2021 and August 2023, two other employees of the UN human rights office were placed under arrest.
The Huthis claimed to have apprehended individuals from a “Israeli-American spy ring” that pretended to be humanitarian organizations. The UN vehemently refuted the charge.
Eryani urged the international community to “immediately begin designating the militia as a global terrorist organization,” to force the Huthi militia to release the jailed personnel, and to “take strong and deterrent measures commensurate with the crimes committed by the militia.”
One of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes in history has been brought on by the war in Yemen, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Following the UN’s agreement of a six-month truce in April 2022, fighting has drastically diminished.
In response to their Palestinian friend Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, the Huthis have been attacking international vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November. They claim that by doing this, they are supporting Gaza in the conflict.
