The UN Coordinator Service for Humanitarian Aid in Yemen was officially transferred from Sanaa, the capital of the country, held by Houthi rebels in Aden, the foreign ministry of the internationally recognized Yemeni Government announced yesterday.

The development is recorded as dozens of UN members of the UN have been arrested in recent months in areas controlled by the rebel movement, which is backed by Iran.

In a statement, the Yemeni Foreign Ministry welcomed the “United Nations decision to transfer the place of service of the permanent coordinator for Yemen from Sanaa to the temporary capital of Aden,” calling “All the services, funds and programs of the United Nations to imitate this example.”

The Yemeni government recognized by the international community has transferred its headquarters to Aden after the rebels expelled it from Sanaa in 2014.

A spokesman for the United Nations Coordinator confirmed to the French Agency that his “place of service” was transferred to the big city of the south.

“The permanent coordinator will continue to fulfill his order across the country,” assured, clarifying that “It will maintain a presence in Sanaa.”

The UN announced last month the arrest of at least eleven officials by rebels Houthi, who launched a wave of arrests after the death of their prime minister of their government and ministers in Israeli bombings.

The World Food Program (RIF) announced yesterday that “44 humanitarian workers are arbitrarily kept by the Houthi authorities, including 21 members of the staff”claiming, once again, to be released immediately.

Since August 31st, 21 members of the United Nations were arrested; they were added to another 23 active or former workers in international NGOs already held, the source explained.

After more than ten years of civil war, Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian peninsula and one of the poorest in the world, remains immersed in a humanitarian crisis in the worst in the world, according to the UN.