The United Nations announced on Monday that they are suspending all humanitarian enterprises in a large area controlled by Houthi in northern Yemen in response to the arbitrary detention of its staff, which stated that it created hostile conditions for assistance.
UN Secretary -General António Guterres made the decision because Houtis held eight other UN staff members in late January, bringing the whole arrested from 2021 to 24, said Farhan Haq, a UN spokesman.
Mr Haq said Houthis had violated an agreement reached in December with the UN to stop holding world service staff and finding a path to release those in custody. Less than a month later, the team arrested eight other noise workers for espionage and foreign intervention.
“This extraordinary and temporary measure seeks to balance the urgent need to remain and deliver with the need for the security and security of the UN staff and its affiliates guaranteed,” the UN said in a statement.
The UN also said that all staff had stopped traveling to Houthi -controlled areas.
On Tuesday, the World Food Program expressed its anger with the death of an employee who said he had been detained by local authorities, although the social media statement did not specifically recognize the name Houthis.
Huttis, the de facto rulers of Yemen’s departments, including the capital, Sana, are supported by Iran. They have been involved in a kidnapping campaign and detention of hundreds of people working for UN and foreign non -governmental organizations, along with dozens of current and former Yemenis employed by the US government, according to the UN, according to UN, according to UN.
The UN did not specify how many Yemen were influenced by the suspension of humanitarian aid operation, which said it included food, clean water and medical kits. However, the UN recognizes Yemen to have the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, with 80 % of 24.1 million people who need basic aid and three million displaced.
Saada, the area where UN -suspended businesses are north of Sana and have a population of about one million people. Many United Nations organizations operate in SAADA, including the global nutrition program, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and other aid groups.
Mr Haq, a UN spokesman, said the decision to stop businesses did not come easily and was discussed strongly within the organization. “This is not a normal process or something we often do,” he said, adding that the decision reflected the weight of security concerns for UN businesses in Yemen.
The UN operates in war zones around the world, including Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan and Ukraine, and its staff faces high risks and pressure, but rarely closes its activities. In the Gaza war, for example, the UN said nearly 300 of his staff were killed in the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza-the largest number of United Nations officials killed in any conflict-but the project continued.
Mr HAQ said that members of the UN staff have diplomatic immunity and must be protected. Hope was, he added, that a cessation of businesses in Yemen would provide room for negotiations with Houthis to guarantee the safe conditions for the UN to continue his work.
