Yemen’s Internationally recognized government minister said that the number of Yemeni personnel abducted by the Houthi rebels in Sanaa during their continuing crackdown has risen to 70.
The Yemeni minister said in a press statement "Since late May, the Houthis have attacked the homes and offices of Yemenis working for the UN Yemen envoy’s office, the World Food Programme, the UN Development Programme, UNESCO, and other UN agencies, as well as Yemenis working for the US-funded National Democratic Institute, Partners Yemen, the German-funded GIZ, and Resonate Yemen.
He added that the Houthis also arrested former Yemeni personnel at the US, Japanese, and Dutch embassies in Yemen, increasing the number of abducted persons from 50 in the early days of the operation to 70 presently, including five women and 18 UN personnel.
At the same time, international rights groups and UN officials have urged the Houthis to free the workers, saying that the militia’s persecution of foreign relief organizations is exacerbating Yemen’s humanitarian crisis.
CARE International, Oxfam, and Save the Children repeated their request in a joint statement on Sunday for the Houthis to provide information on the kidnapped workers and release them, saying that the “unprecedented” crackdown will delay relief deliveries to Yemen’s 18.2 million people.
“Humanitarian organizations and aid workers dedicate their efforts to support the people of Yemen and do so by abiding with humanitarian principles,” the three organizations that operate in Yemen said in the statement.
“Targeting of humanitarian, human rights, and development workers in Yemen must stop. All those detained must be immediately released,” they said.
On Sunday, UN Yemen envoy Hans Grundberg reiterated the same call for the Houthis to free the workers and halt their human rights violations against Yemenis in regions under their control.
“He specifically repeated the demand for the immediate and unconditional release of UN personnel and aid, and civil society workers who were arbitrarily detained in Sanaa and continue to be held in incommunicado detention,” Grundberg’s office said in a statement.