Yemen's Houthis arrest WFP staff, raid its Sanaa HQ

Aden, Sep 1 (IANS) Several employees of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) were arrested by the Houthi group in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, security and humanitarian sources told Xinhua.

According to a local security official, who asked to remain anonymous, one WFP employee was taken into custody from the organization's headquarters in Sanaa on Sunday, while several others were arrested from its office in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, Xinhua news agency reported.

A WFP source in Yemen confirmed the arrests, adding that three security guards working at the Sanaa headquarters were also detained when Houthi forces stormed the building.

"We do not know the fate of the employees who were still inside the office during the raid," the source said anonymously.

The source also revealed that "the Houthis are currently holding several staff members of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for questioning in the basement of the agency's headquarters in Sanaa."

Following an Israeli airstrike on Sanaa on Thursday that killed Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi of the Houthi-backed government, along with several other ministers, Yemeni sources reported that Houthi intelligence authorities detained dozens of people in the capital and other regions, including several local humanitarian workers and employees of international aid organizations, on suspicion of collaborating with Israel.

Dozens of UN staff and aid organization personnel have been held by the Houthis since June 2024, despite repeated UN appeals for their release.

There has been no immediate comment from the Houthi group regarding Sunday's arrests.

The WFP is one of the largest humanitarian agencies operating in war-ravaged Yemen, where years of conflict have triggered what the United Nations describes as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Yemen has been engulfed in civil war since 2014, when Houthi forces seized the capital Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015.

--IANS

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