By Blessing Chinagorom
The European Union Commission has called on the Houthis for an immediate, transparent and thorough investigation over the death of a detained World Food Programme (WFP) staff and to hold those responsible accountable.
In a statement released the Commission on Wednesday, joined the UN Secretary General’s statement on 11 February 2025 to strongly condemn the death of World Food Programme (WFP) staff who had been arbitrarily detained by the Houthi since 23 January 2025.
The Union extended its deepest condolences to his family and to the World Food Program, and stand in solidarity with all the arbitrary detained staff and their grieving families.
While continues to call for immediate and unconditional release of all the staff from the UN, NGOs and diplomatic missions detained by the Houthis.
The Commission said, “These detentions are endangering the provision of urgently needed humanitarian and development assistance to the Yemeni people”.
Against the new wave of imprisonments in 2025, the EU called on the Houthis to stop these detentions and return to the UN-led peace process for a sustainable solution to the Yemeni conflict.
Report has it that a World Food Programme staff member has died in captivity in Yemen after being detained by Houthi rebels, the organisation said on Tuesday.
The man, who WFP’s executive director Cindy McCain named only as Ahmed, had been detained on January 23 with six others, the organisation said in a statement but did not give details on how or when he died.
Ms McCain said she was “heart-broken and outraged” by the death. A devoted humanitarian and father of two, he played a crucial role in our mission to deliver life saving food assistance,” she wrote on X.
It came just a day after the United Nations paused all humanitarian operations in the country’s Saada region after eight more UN staff were detained. 
A total of 24 UN staff are currently in detention in Yemen, including thirteen kidnapped in June 2024 alongside more than 50 charity workers whom the rebel group claimed were part of “an American-Israeli spy network”.
The Iran-backed Houthi group remain in control of large parts of Yemen’s west, including the capital Sanaa and the Saada region, which it seized in 2014 from the internationally recognised government.
Since the conflict broke out, it has spiralled into one of the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophes. WFP says it provided assistance to 15.3 million people, or 47 per cent of the population, in 2023.
The United Nations has projected that more than 19 million people across Yemen’ll need humanitarian assistance this year as many deal with climate shocks, malnutrition, cholera and the economic effects of war.
