Yemen Monitor/Newsroom
The EU on Friday called on the Houthis to immediately release all UN and international organization staff detained by the group in Sanaa for days.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell strongly condemned in a statement the recent arrests of UN staff and staff working for international and national NGOs and diplomatic missions in Yemen by the Houthis.
The EU declared its full support for the UN Secretary-General’s letter of 11 June and reiterated its call for the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees.
The EU said it was also deeply concerned about the negative repercussions that could affect the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian and development assistance to the Yemeni population.
The European Union urged the Houthis to allow unimpeded access for humanitarian actors in the country and to respect and protect the safety and security of humanitarian workers and UN personnel in Yemen in accordance with international humanitarian law.
The European Union continued to condemn the Houthis’ unacceptable attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, which violate international law, threaten maritime security and peace in the region, and disrupt global trade Stressing that these attacks must stop.
The European Union reiterated the need for unity in Yemen and full respect of the country’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on the Houthi de facto authorities to immediately release all 13 UN staff members detained by them.
“This is a disturbing development that raises serious concerns about the Houthis’ commitment to a negotiated settlement of the conflict,” Guterres said during a meeting with his Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, in the Jordanian capital today.
On Monday, the group said in a statement that it had “caught an American-Israeli spy cell in official and unofficial institutions in Yemen,” without identifying their identities or nationalities.
Over the past few days, the Houthi-affiliated security and intelligence services have carried out a series of raids and detained dozens of international and local organization staff working in the country, most of whom work with the UN and the US-funded National Democratic Institute, which works in support of democracy, and staff of a local human rights group.
The Houthis have considered this their greatest intelligence achievement so far, but it seems that most of the accusations and confessions related to the economy, agriculture, politics, education and civil society organizations are without any logical basis.
The Houthi group has detained in recent years about 20 Yemeni employees who were working at the US embassy, which suspended operations in Sanaa in 2014.
