Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have detained more than a dozen aid workers, including 11 United Nations staff, in an apparently coordinated crackdown, the Yemeni government, aid groups and the UN said Friday.
The abductions underline the perilous task facing aid workers in Yemen, whose long-running civil war has precipitated one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
“Houthi de facto authorities have detained 11 United Nations national personnel working in Yemen,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
“We’re pursuing all available channels to secure the safe and unconditional release of all of them as rapidly as possible.”
The Yemeni Mayyun Organization for Human Rights said at least 18 Yemeni aid workers were kidnapped in four rebel-held parts of the war-torn country.
The “simultaneous” abductions took place in Sanaa, the key port of Hodeida, Amran and Saada, the rebels’ traditional stronghold, the aid group said.
Human Rights Watch said the Houthis “appear to be arbitrarily detaining the individuals based on their employment,” adding that the whereabouts of many remain unknown.
The abductees include the husband and children, ages three years and nine months, of a woman who works with a civil society organisation in Yemen, HRW said.
The Houthis have kidnapped, arbitrarily detained and tortured hundreds of civilians, including UN and NGO workers, since the start of Yemen’s conflict in 2014, according to rights groups.
Yemen’s internationally recognised government condemned the “massive abduction campaign,” saying it targeted “dozens of employees of UN agencies, the office of UN envoy Hans Grundberg, and several international organisations working” in the capital Sanaa and other Houthi-run areas.