6 peacekeepers and an interpreter killed, while 10 more staffers detained in Yemen
Mayol, a South Sudanese national who had worked for the UN mission since its inception in 2011, was taken from a UN vehicle by five South Sudanese soldiers following a routine patrol to a displacement camp on the outskirts of the northern town of Wau. Mayol’s vehicle had stopped on the side of a road after getting a flat tyre, Udol said.
The UN called for those responsible to be held accountable.
The UN also had another piece of “untenable” news: Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who control the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north, detained 10 more UN staffers on Thursday, bringing the total number being held to 69.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the move and demanded that charges against three UN staffers who were recently referred to a Houthi special criminal court be dropped.
The court in late November convicted 17 people of spying for foreign governments, part of a years-long Houthi crackdown on Yemeni staffers working for foreign organisations.
