The UN said that the “extraordinary and temporary measure” was taken to guarantee the safety of its staff.
The United Nations have temporarily stopped all operations in the Saada de Yemen region after the Huti authorities arrested eight more of their staff, a UN spokesman said.
“This extraordinary and temporary measure seeks to balance the imperative to stay and deliver with the need to have the security of the UN staff and its guaranteed partners,” the UN spokesman, Farhan Haq, said on Monday.
“Such guarantees are ultimately required to guarantee the effectiveness and sustainability of our efforts,” said Haq.
Seven UN agencies currently operate in Saada, a Hutí fortress in northern Yemen, including the World Food Program, the World Health Organization and the UNICEF Children's Agency.
Haq said he could not say how many people in Yemen would be affected by the pause in UN operations, but said that the world body is still “totally committed to helping millions of people in need” throughout the country.
“This pause is to give time to de facto authorities and the United Nations to organize the release of the UN staff arbitrarily detained and ensure that the necessary conditions exist to provide critical humanitarian support,” he said.
The Hutíes, who did not immediately recognize the UN decision, have arrested dozens of UN staff since 2021, and the group had at least 24 people detained before the last arrests.
Until now, UN employees have been published, and the group has paraded them in television channels where they are presented as collaborators with Western Intelligence and Israel agencies.
The UN previously suspended all trips to areas held by the hutíes on January 24 after the rebel group detained an un specified number of personnel.
It is not clear why UN staff was still present in Saada at the time of their arrest. The hutis backed by Iran have controlled the majority of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, since it took power in 2014 and early 2015. The group has been at war with a coalition led by Saudi Arabia that is fighting in the name of the Yemen exiled government.
More than a decade of war has left 150,000 people dead in Yemen. The country is also experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with more than 18 million people in emergency need for assistance, according to the UN.
The UN orientation of the Houthi occurs when the armed group has been finishing its campaign of attacks against objectives in Israel, as well as international shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Adén.
The group began its campaign in solidarity with the people of Gaza in November 2023, saying that it would cease their attacks after a fire was reached between Israel and Hamas.
In January, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, restored the designation of Houthi as a “terrorist” organization, which he had established during his first term, before he was revoked by the president of the United States, Joe Biden.
