‘Outraged’: WFP says staff member dies while detained in northern Yemen

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced that an aid worker in northern Yemen had died in custody after being detained for three weeks. The organization is deeply shocked and saddened by this tragedy.

This news was released one day after the UN announced the suspension of aid operations in Saada, northern Yemen, due to the detention of its staff by the Houthi armed group. The Saada region is controlled by the Houthis. The World Food Programme stated that seven local employees have been "arbitrarily detained by local authorities" since January 23, and the deceased aid worker was one of them, but the specific time and cause of death were not disclosed.

The World Food Programme expressed its "sadness and outrage" at the incident in a statement on social media platform X. WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain wrote on X: "Heartbroken and outraged by the tragic death of Ahmed, who lost his life while arbitrarily detained in Yemen as part of the WFP team." She added that the 40-year-old aid worker had played a "critical role in carrying out our mission to deliver life-saving food assistance" since joining the organization in 2017. He is survived by his wife and two children.

A UN spokesperson explained in a statement on Monday that the "extraordinary" decision to suspend all operations and projects in the Saada region was due to the lack of necessary security conditions. Houthi authorities have detained dozens of UN staff since 2021, and the group held at least 24 people before the recent arrests. The Houthis sometimes describe these staff as collaborators with Western intelligence agencies, which the humanitarian community strongly denies.

The UN's decision to suspend operations is expected to affect the global response to one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. Seven UN agencies, including the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF, as well as several other international aid organizations, operate in the Saada region. Yemen has been the focus of one of the world's largest humanitarian operations during the decade-long civil war, which has disrupted food supplies and displaced millions of people. The World Food Programme stated that in 2023, the organization provided assistance to 47% of the population in Yemen, approximately 15.3 million people.

The United Nations expects that the need for assistance will only increase. The agency estimates that more than 19 million people across Yemen will need humanitarian assistance this year, as many are coping with climate shocks, malnutrition, cholera, and the economic impacts of the war. The Yemeni civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized control of the capital Sanaa and most of the country's north. The offensive forced the government led by then-President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee south, currently located in the port city of Aden. The conflict has killed more than 150,000 people, including civilians and combatants, and in recent years, as efforts to achieve a lasting peace have stalled, the conflict has largely devolved into a stalemate.