The United Nations suspends humanitarian action in the Yemeni region on Houthi

The United Nations announced on Monday that it was suspending all humanitarian operations in a large area controlled by the Houthis in northern Yemen in response to the arbitrary detention of its employees, which it said had created anti -aid conditions.

Farhan Haq, a United Nations spokesman, said that the United Nations Secretary -General, Antonio Guterres, made the decision because the Houthis detained eight other employees of the United Nations in late January, when he brought his total arrest from 2021 to 24.

Mr. Hakaya said that the Houthis violated an agreement reached in December with the United Nations to stop the detention of the employees of the World Agency and find a way to issue those detainees. Less than a month later, the group arrested eight other workers on mysterious charges of spying and foreign intervention.

“This extraordinary and temporary measure seeks to balance the necessity to survive and surrender with the need to obtain the safety and security of the United Nations employees and its partners are guaranteed,” the United Nations said in a statement.

The United Nations also said that it had stopped all employees to travel to the Houthi -controlled areas after the arrests.

The Houthis, their actual rulers of parts of Yemen, including the capital, SANA, are supported by Iran. They have been involved in a campaign of kidnappings and the detention of hundreds of people working for the United Nations and foreign NGOs, along with dozens of time and former. Yemenis operate by the US governmentAccording to the United Nations

The United Nations did not explain the number of Yemenis who were affected by the suspension of the humanitarian aid process, which it said includes providing food, clean water and medical groups. But the United Nations introduces Yemen the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, with 80 percent of 24.1 million people in need of basic assistance and three million displaced people.

Saada, the region where the United Nations is stuck, north of Sana, is located with a population of about one million people. Many United Nations agencies work in Saada, including the World Food Program, World Health Organization, UNICEF and other relief groups.

Mr. Haq, a United Nations spokesman, said that the decision to stop the operations did not come easily and was widely discussed within the organization. “This is not a natural measure or something we do a lot,” he said, adding that the decision reflects the seriousness of safety concerns for the United Nations operations in Yemen.

The United Nations is working in war areas all over the world, including Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan and Ukraine, and its employees face great risks and feel, but it rarely closes its operations. In the war in Gaza, for example, the United Nations said that nearly 300 of its employees were killed in the Israeli war in Gaza-the highest number of United Nations employees who were killed in any conflict-but the work continued.

Mr. Talea said that United Nations employees have diplomatic immunity and must be protected. He added that the hope is to stop in operations in Yemen, which will provide a space for negotiations with the Houthis to ensure the safe conditions of the United Nations to resume its work.