SANAA, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said in a statement on Tuesday that he met Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam along with Omani officials in Muscat, the Omani capital, demanding the release of UN staff employees detained by the Houthi group in northern Yemen.

In the meeting, Grundberg expressed his strong condemnation of the recent, and reportedly ongoing, wave of arbitrary detentions of UN personnel by the Houthis in the Yemeni capital Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah, demanding their immediate release.

He stressed that detentions of UN, NGO, civil society, and diplomatic mission personnel, as well as the forced entry into UN premises and seizure of UN property by the Houthis, seriously endanger the UN's ability to operate in Yemen and deliver much-needed assistance.

On Sunday, Grundberg said in another statement that at least "11 UN staff members were detained in the cities of Sanaa and Hodeidah." He added that Houthi "armed groups had forced their way into UN premises and seized property."

Grundberg said the latest arrests bring the total number of detained UN staff by the Houthis in northern Yemen to 34. Some have been held since 2021 and 2023. Earlier this year, one UN employee died in a Houthi detention in Saada province.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthis seized control of much of northern Yemen, forcing the internationally recognized Yemeni government out of the capital Sanaa.

The UN has been trying to bring the Houthis to the negotiation table with the Yemeni government to reach a political solution and end the civil war. ■