UN Special Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg visited Muscat on Sunday to address the detention by Houthis of UN personnel operating in Yemen, a behavior that sparked wide-scale international condemnation and described by Washington as a “terrorist act.”

Last Friday, the United Nations said the Iran-backed Houthis had detained seven UN personnel. Earlier, it said the arrests had taken place in the area of capital Sanaa.

The latest round of arbitrary arrests pushed the UN to suspend all official movement of its staff into or within Houthi-held areas to protect their safety.

For its part, the legitimate government renewed request to the United Nations to relocate its main offices from Sanaa to Yemen's temporary capital, Aden.

On Sunday, a statement from Grundberg’s office said the envoy met in Muscat with “senior Omani officials” and Mohammed Abdul Salam, spokesman for the Iran-backed Houthis.

“They addressed the recent arbitrary detention of additional United Nations personnel adding to the numerous others already held by Houthis,” the statement said, referring to the Houthis.

Grundberg then “reiterated the firm stance” of UN secretary general Antonio Guterres “strongly condemning these detentions and calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all detained UN staff.”

The statement also called for the freeing of “personnel from international and national non-governmental organizations, civil society and diplomatic missions held since June 2024, as well as those held since 2021 and 2023.”

Western Condemnation

The US State Department condemned the capture of additional UN staff by Houthi militants in Yemen.

In a statement, the department said, “These actions come amid the Houthis’ ongoing campaign of terror that includes taking hundreds of UN, NGO, and diplomatic staff members, including dozens of current and former Yemeni staff of the US government.

It called for the release of all detainees, including seven UN workers captured on Thursday, and decried the “campaign of terror” by the militant group.

“This latest Houthi roundup demonstrates the bad faith of the terrorist group’s claims to seek de-escalation and also makes a mockery of their claims to represent the interests of the Yemeni people,” the State Department said.

It added that the Houthis have failed to commit to ceasing attacks on regional states, US service members and all maritime traffic in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.

It recalled that the President Donald Trump’s Executive Order on designation of the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) recognizes these realities and will hold the group accountable for its reckless attacks and actions.

Also, the EU expressed its support for the statement issued by the UN Secretary-General and strongly condemned the latest round of arbitrary arrests carried out by the Houthis against UN staff working in Yemen.

The EU said it joins the calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all UN staff, NGO workers, and diplomatic missions personnel detained by the Houthis.

It also noted that these arrests jeopardize the delivery of much-needed humanitarian and development assistance to the Yemeni people.

In separate statements, the French and Germany foreign ministries also condemned the new wave of arbitrary arrests carried out by the Houthi group and called for the immediate and unconditional release of detainees.

Calls To Relocate UN Offices in Yemen

In response to the latest round of Houthi arrests, the Yemeni Foreign Ministry said the situation in Yemen is utterly calamitous, with the Houthi militias’ abduction of 13 employees of UN agencies, international and local non-governmental organizations in Sanaa.

It then described the Houthi behavior as “an egregious example of their blatant disdain for human rights and international law” that poses a significant threat to the lives and security of these employees.

The Ministry then called on the United Nations to relocate all its offices to the southern city of Aden.