UN calls for release of Emirati ship seized by Yemen rebels

a The declaration was drafted by the United Kingdom, under pressure from the UAE, a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since the first of this month, and condemns the seizure of the ship “Rawabi”.

The statement said that the 15 members of the Security Council call on “all parties to resolve this issue quickly” and stress “the importance of freedom of navigation in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea in accordance with international law.” Agence France-Presse (AFP).

In the document, the council also urged “all parties to reduce tensions” in Yemen and “cooperate constructively” with the UN Special Envoy “so that comprehensive political negotiations can be resumed,” the text said.

Immediately after the seizure of the ship, on January 3, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the Gulf states that have been interfering militarily in Yemen since 2015 to support government forces in the fight against Houthi rebels close to Iran, denounced the act of “piracy” against a civilian ship.

The Houthis claim that it is a ship carrying “military equipment”, while the Saudis are talking about a ship with materials intended to build a hospital in the Yemeni archipelago of Socotra, which is controlled by separatists from southern Yemen, near the Emirates.

The United Arab Emirates confirmed, in a letter sent on the tenth of this month to the United Nations Security Council, that the crew of the seized ship consists of 11 members, including seven Indians (India is currently a non-permanent member of the United Nations). In addition to the nationals of Ethiopia, Indonesia, Burma and the Philippines.

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