France and the United Nations condemn the "arbitrary" arrests of its employees in Yemen by the Houthis

France strongly condemned the wave of arrests carried out by the "Houthi" group in Yemen against United Nations employees, describing them as "arbitrary" and calling for their "immediate and unconditional release".

This came in a statement from the spokesperson for the French Foreign Ministry, Christophe Lemoine, who said: "These arrests are contrary to international law," warning that these actions "hinder the distribution of humanitarian aid needed by the Yemeni people, and consequently contribute to exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Yemen".

These statements come after the United Nations announced on Sunday the arrest of at least 11 of its employees by the Houthis in the cities of Sana'a and Hodeidah, as part of a wave of arrests that followed the killing of the head of their unrecognized government in international raids last Thursday.

For his part, the UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, confirmed that the Houthis arrested "at least 11 UN employees in a campaign he described as "arbitrary," noting that "these arrests add to 23 UN employees who are still in custody, some of whom have been detained since 2021 and 2023".

The World Food Programme also announced the arrest of one of its employees in the capital Sana'a, which has been under Houthi control since 2014. A security source in Sana'a told the French news agency that seven employees of the World Food Programme and three others from UNICEF were arrested on Sunday.

For his part, the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, condemned these arrests in a statement issued on Sunday, saying: "I strongly condemn the arbitrary arrests of at least 11 UN employees on August 31 by the Houthi de facto authorities in the areas under their control".

Guterres called for the "immediate and unconditional release" of all detained employees, including "all UN employees and international and national NGOs and civil society members and diplomatic missions who are arbitrarily detained".