Washington says insurgents use disinformation to blame US and external actors “for their own failures”
June 13. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United States Government has “strongly” condemned this Wednesday the “recent arrests” by the Yemeni Houthi rebels of United Nations personnel, diplomats and several NGOs, as well as the “efforts” of the insurgency to “spread disinformation” about the role of U.S. mission personnel detained through televised false and forced ‘confessions.'”
“Once again, the Houthis seek to use disinformation to blame the United States and other external actors for their own failures,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller in a statement, in which he considers that these actions “reflect a blatant disregard for the dignity of the Yemeni people and the people who – contrary to the Houthis’ lies – have dedicated themselves to improving their country.”
Washington has maintained that its measures “stand in stark contrast to the actions of the Houthis who have held them without justification for more than two and a half years”: “The detentions, and that of UN staff, are an affront to diplomatic norms and They should be released immediately. We will not rest until they are,” he concluded.
Among those detained are six workers from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, two from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and one from the Grundberg office, the Human Rights Program. United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Program (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Eleven other members of Yemeni civil society were detained along with them. In addition, four UN workers were already in custody after being arrested between 2021 and 2023, and were members of UNESCO and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The rebels claimed that they had dismantled an important spy network led by the United States and Israel that had operated since 2015 to collect military and security information for the US Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, and Israel’s foreign intelligence service, the Mossad, with the objective of weakening their forces. The structure would have operated under the protection of international organizations and UN agencies camouflaged with humanitarian work tasks.
These arrests have taken place amid the deepening humanitarian crisis in Yemen, where nearly a decade of conflict between rebels and internationally recognized authorities has left 17.6 million people – half the population – in food insecurity situation.
Likewise, 4.5 million people remain displaced within the country, according to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), including many who have been displaced repeatedly due to the conflict.
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