SANA’A: The United Nations office in Yemen confirmed on Sunday that Huthi rebels continue to detain twenty of its staff members following their unauthorised entry into the UN compound in Sana’a the previous day.
UN spokesman Jean Alam stated that five national staff and fifteen international staff remain detained within the compound.
The UN is engaging with authorities in Sana’a, relevant member states, and the Yemeni government to resolve this serious situation quickly.
A UN official speaking anonymously later confirmed that UNICEF’s representative in Yemen, Peter Hawkins, is among those detained.
Two Huthi security sources separately verified Hawkins’ detention.
This incident follows the rebels’ previous storming of UN offices in Sana’a on August 31, when they detained more than eleven employees.
A senior Huthi official previously accused those employees of spying for the United States and Israel.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric responded to rebel leader Abdelmalek al-Huthi’s televised claims about dismantling a spy cell linked to humanitarian organisations.
Dujarric described these accusations as dangerous and unacceptable.
Saturday’s raid occurred while dozens of UN personnel already faced detention in recent months within Huthi-controlled areas.
The UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen was officially transferred from Sana’a to Aden, the interim government’s capital, in mid-September.
Since August 31, 2025, twenty-one UN personnel have been arrested in addition to twenty-three current and former NGO staff already detained.
Ten years of civil war have plunged Yemen into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises according to UN assessments. – AFP
