Washington: Al-Houthi’s detention of our employees in Sana’a is an affront to the international community
English - Wednesday 22 December 2021 الساعة 06:29 pm
Aden, NewsYemen:
On Tuesday, the United States considered the continued detention of American and international staff by the Houthi militia in Sanaa, an "insult to Yemenis and the entire international community."
More than a month ago, the Houthi militia stormed the US embassy compound on Sheraton Street in the capital, Sanaa, in conjunction with the kidnapping of a number of local employees and embassy guards.
On November 18, the United Nations announced that the Houthis had detained two of its employees in Sanaa.
The US State Department said that its special envoy, Tim Lenderking, discussed with the Swedish envoy to Yemen, Peter Smenbe, the continued detention of American and international staff in Sanaa.
And it considered, in a tweet to her on Twitter, Tuesday, the measures "an insult to the Yemenis and the entire international community, and also indicates the Houthis' lack of respect for the employees of foreign governments."
The UN Security Council had condemned in the strongest terms the storming of the Houthi militia, the Iranian arm in Yemen, the US embassy compound in Sanaa, and the arrest of dozens of local employees.
In a statement, the members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the recent and ongoing seizure and infiltration of the compound, which was formerly used as the US embassy in Sana’a, by the Houthis, during which dozens of local employees were arrested.
The members of the Security Council called for the immediate withdrawal of all Houthi elements from the compound. They also demanded the immediate and safe release of those still in detention.
Earlier, the United States representative to the Security Council, Linda Thomas Greenfield, said that the Houthi group in Yemen continues to detain and harass its local employees, in addition to seizing its closed embassy complex in Sanaa, despite the call of the Security Council and the international community to stop these measures.
Greenfield called on the Houthis to release all current and former local employees and not to be harmed, and "they must vacate the American compound immediately, return all confiscated property, and stop their threats against their citizens, just to hire us."
“Such behavior is an insult to the entire international community," she said.
The Houthi militia continues to arrest two United Nations employees in the capital, Sanaa, about a month ago.
