Houthis detain Unicef Yemen chief, 19 UN staffers

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 "unauthorised entry" into their compound, adding that the staff there were "safe and accounted for".

"Five national staff and fifteen international staff remain detained within the compound," Jean Alam, spokeperson for the UN resident coordinator, said on Sunday.

The UN was in touch with the authorities in Sanaa, with the relevant member states and the government of Yemen "to resolve this serious situation as swiftly as possible, end the detention of all personnel, and restore full control over its facilities in Sanaa", it added.

Late on Sunday, a UN official, requesting anonymity, told AFP that United Nations Children's Fund's (Unicef) representative in Yemen was among those detained.

"Peter Hawkins is among the 15 international employees detained in the complex" the Huthis raided the previous day, the official said.

Spying accusations

The rebels had already stormed UN offices in Sanaa on August 31, detaining more than 11 employees, according to the UN.

Those employees were suspected of spying for the United States and Israel, a senior Huthi official told AFP at the time on condition of anonymity.

In a statement on Saturday, UN Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric's spokesperson said: "We will continue to call for an end to the arbitrary detention of 53 of our colleagues."

He was responding to a televised address on Thursday by rebel leader Abdelmalek al-Huthi.

He claimed his forces had dismantled "one of the most dangerous spy cells", which he said was "linked to humanitarian organisations such as the World Food Program and Unicef".

Dujarric described the accusations as "dangerous and unacceptable".

Saturday's raid came with dozens of UN personnel 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 held by the Houthi rebels — to Aden, the interim capital of the internationally recognised government.

Since August 31, 2025, 21 UN personnel 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 in the Arabian Peninsula, into one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, says the UN.