UN officials meet with Houthi representatives in Oman

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg and the recently appointed UN official to lead on the issue of detentions, Muin Shreim, visited Oman and met with Omani officials and representatives of Ansar Allah (the Houthi military group) on Monday, according to a note to correspondents issued by the Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General on Wednesday.

"They met with Omani officials and Ansar Allah representatives, as part of the UN's ongoing efforts to secure the release of all UN personnel arbitrarily detained by Ansar Allah," the note said.

Grundberg also held discussions with senior Omani officials and the Ansar Allah negotiating team on ways to reach a negotiated political settlement to end the conflict in Yemen, it said.

The Houthi de facto authorities in Yemen arbitrarily detained one more UN staff member on Monday, bringing the total number of detained UN personnel in the country to at least 59, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, on Monday.

Some of the UN staff have been detained by the Houthis since 2021. ■