Yemen Monitor / Newsroom:
The Houthi group continues, for the second day, to detain fifteen UN employees of foreign nationalities and five employees of Yemeni nationality, inside the residential compound belonging to UN staff in the Hadda neighborhood in the center of the capital, Sana’a.
A statement from the United Nations office in Yemen said that the Houthis had released 11 local staff members from inside the residential complex yesterday (Saturday), while twenty staff members remain detained.
Informed sources said that the Houthis allowed the detainees to contact their families after confiscating their mobile phones and personal computers after storming their residence early yesterday morning, Saturday.
A heavily armed security force, affiliated with the Security and Intelligence Service of the Houthi group, stormed the UN residential compound after surrounding the area with additional forces.
Observers believe that the Houthis are attempting to extort UN organizations following the group’s leader’s recent speech in which he spoke of their keenness for the UN organizations to remain, while explicitly accusing workers in the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF of spying for Israel.
Activists interested in humanitarian affairs stated that the Houthis are seeking to sign a new agreement with the UN organizations, after the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was relocated to Aden last September.
