UN announces death in Yemeni prison of aid worker detained by Houthis

CAIRO — The United Nations World Food Programme said Tuesday that an aid worker has died in a Yemeni prison three weeks after his detention by Houthi rebels.

The announcement came a day after the U.N. suspended its operations in the rebel's stronghold in northern Yemen.

The World Food Program said in a statement that one of its staff members died while in detention in northern Yemen. He was one of seven WFP staffers detained by the Houthi rebels on Jan. 23. No cause of death was given.

''Heartbroken and outraged by the tragic loss of WFP team member, Ahmed, who lost his life while arbitrarily detained in Yemen,'' WFP executive director Cindy McCain wrote on the X social media platform.

She said the worker, who is survived by his wife and two children, ''played a crucial role in our mission to deliver lifesaving food assistance.''

A Houthi spokesman didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The 40-year-old worker, who joined the UN food agency in 2017, died Monday in a prison in the northern province of Saada, and that the circumstances of his death weren't immediately known, said a WFP official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Lack of necessary security conditions

The U.N. said Monday it was suspending its humanitarian operations in the northern province of Saada after the Houthis detained eight more U.N. staffers.

A U.N. statement said the ''extraordinary'' decision to pause all operations and programs in Saada was due to the lack of necessary security conditions and guarantees. It called for the Houthis to release all detained U.N. staff.

The rebels have detained dozens of U.N. staffers, as well as people associated with aid groups, civil society and the once-open U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen's capital. None of the U.N. staffers has been released.

The U.N. decision will affect the global response to one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. Seven U.N, agencies operate in Saada, including the WFP, the World Health Organization and UNICEF, along with several international aid organizations, according to the U.N. humanitarian agency.

One of the world's worst humanitarian crises

Yemen's civil war began in 2014, when Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels took control of the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country's north, forcing the government to flee to the south, then to Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015, backed at the time by the U.S., in an effort to restore the internationally recognized government to power.

The war has killed more than 150,000 people including civilians and combatants, and in recent years deteriorated largely into a stalemate and caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The U.N. had projected that over 19 million people across Yemen will need humanitarian assistance this year as many deal with climate shocks, malnutrition, cholera and the economic effects of war.