The Houthis’ methods are strikingly similar to those of the Taliban. Still, the West is letting them continue to define the rules of the game
In the Houthi rebels-controlled north-west of Yemen, around 60 local employees of international and aid organizations are currently being held — or rather have been abducted. Their whereabouts… unknown. Their relatives… kept in the dark. No access to lawyers or to medicine. Incommunicado, as experts call it.
The abductees include staff from the United Nations, embassies and humanitarian agencies who have been working for years towards improved water supply, decentralized governance and energy projects in Yemen.
While it’s not uncommon for international staff to be intercepted and sometimes harassed in some other parts of the world, the Houthis’ wave of abductions in the capital Sana’a since May is unprecedented. International workers had been unaffected... until now.
For years, the Houthis have been moving the goalposts when it comes to the behavior that is tolerated on the international stage. They escalate, provoke and attack. All of this follows a well-thought-out plan. Ten years have now passed since the Houthis first occupied Sana’a. Harassment, expropriation, arrests of political opponents and the establishment of a bona fide regime of terror against the country’s own population began. Some things are reminiscent of the Taliban. Previous achievements such as a functioning parliament, freedom of the press or universal school attendance have since been systematically rolled back, with blame mostly placed on alleged outside opponents.
Instead of focusing on the economic development of a country in ruins, new war levies have been introduced; those who don’t pay up face imprisonment. At the same time, public servants in the territory occupied by the Houthis have been waiting for their salaries for years. The north-west of Yemen is being systematically impoverished, and experts now estimate around 90 per cent of people there to be living in poverty. A world record.
In recent weeks, the Houthis have increasingly targeted the international aid community, in particular partner associations in Yemen. Since 2018, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been complaining about the Houthis’ systematic abuse and weaponization of food aid. The Supreme Council for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (SCMCHA), which global humanitarian organizations have to register with to operate, was specifically staffed by Houthis and recently instructed the UN’s aid partners to work only with Houthi-friendly organisations and even bring Houthis into their workforce. Some international organisations bowed in to the pressure.
Kidnappings aren’t a new strategy for the Houthis: they’ve abducted local workers before in 2019 and 2023. But stepping up these abductions has had a massive political impact in Yemen. It is not so much about the 60 individuals the Houthis are currently using as bargaining chips, but rather about the doubts raised surrounding international partnerships as a whole. Yemenis working for international organizations are taking a greater and greater risk as each month goes by, not only in the north, but also in the south of the country under the control of the ‘legitimate government’.
In recent years, the international community has given in to any new demand the Houthis have made and routinely overlooked their violations of individual freedoms or stigmatization of international aid. People cannot be left to fend for themselves in these disastrous economic and social circumstances, but equally we don’t want to keep the Houthis out of the ongoing political dialogue, it seems.
Despite all this escalation, the West has continued to show understanding towards the Houthis and support them indirectly.
Appeasing the Houthis has only strengthened their power base and given them the impression that they doing the right thing. They have been able to send emissaries to international gatherings and use informal backchannel ling to have others take part in talks or negotiations on their behalf.
This has led to even the smallest concrete agreements being consistently broken, while international partners stay silent.
We shouldn’t be surprised if there is a two-state or even multi-state solution in the foreseeable future, without the involvement of the UN.
This brings the Houthis closer to their ultimate goal: establishing their own state under their control. Yemen has been increasingly divided for 10 years now — not through political negotiation, as in the case of Sudan and South Sudan, but step by step at lower levels.
International political observers have become accustomed to the growing confusion and chaos. And getting used to the extraordinary or the unusual sometimes results in accepting it.
For Yemen, this means a tribal religious movement consolidating into a state, as we watch Yemen fall apart and drift into the unknown in slow motion. We could actively put up with a country transitioning to another state of being, provided we don’t lose sight of the consequences. Otherwise, only a massive diplomatic effort and robust security policy could bring this train to a halt. But we need to reinstate those red lines to what they once were: clear trigger points for a genuine foreign policy response that would make it easier to deal with the situation itself and muster up the courage to do so. The 60 abductees would certainly welcome a more proactive effort.
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