- Peter Hawkins among 15 international UN staff detained.
- The UN says detained personnel are “safe and responsible”.
- The UN is in contact with the authorities in Sanaa for the release of the staff.
The United Nations (UN) office in Yemen said on Sunday that Houthi rebels were still holding 20 of their staff following their raid on their building in Sanaa a day earlier.
On Saturday, the UN office said Houthi security forces had made an “unauthorized entry” into their territory, adding that personnel there were “safe and responsible”.
“Five national staff and fifteen international staff remain detained in the area,” Jean Alam, spokesman for the UN resident coordinator, said on Sunday.
The UN was in contact with the authorities in Sanaa, with the relevant member states and the government of Yemen “to resolve this serious situation as soon as possible, end the detention of all personnel and restore full control of its facilities in Sanaa”, it added.
Late Sunday, a UN official who requested anonymity said AFP that the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) representative in Yemen was among those detained.
“Peter Hawkins is among the 15 international employees detained in the compound” raided by the Huthis the day before, the official said.
Espionage charges
The rebels had already stormed UN offices in Sanaa on August 31 and detained more than 11 staff, according to the UN.
Those employees were suspected of spying for the United States and Israel, a senior Houthi official said AFP at the time on condition of anonymity.
In a statement on Saturday, UN Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric’s spokesman said: “We will continue to call for an end to the arbitrary detention of 53 of our colleagues.”
He was responding to a televised speech Thursday by rebel leader Abdelmalek al-Huthi.
He claimed that his forces had dismantled “one of the most dangerous spy cells”, which he said was “linked to humanitarian organizations such as the World Food Program and Unicef”.
Dujarric described the accusations as “dangerous and unacceptable”.
Saturday’s raid came with dozens of UN staff already arrested in recent months in areas controlled by the Iranian-backed group.
In mid-September, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen was officially transferred from Sanaa – the capital of the Huthi rebels – to Aden, the interim capital of the internationally recognized government.
Since August 31, 2025, 21 UN staff have been arrested, adding to the 23 current and former members of international NGOs already detained, according to the UN.
Ten years of civil war have plunged Yemen, one of the poorest countries on the Arabian Peninsula, into one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, the UN says.
