Denmark’s Merete Juhl presents credentials to Yemen’s foreign minister in Riyadh
Yemen Herald News 
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Denmark’s non-resident ambassador to Yemen presented a copy of her credentials to Foreign Minister Afrah al-Zouba in Riyadh on Wednesday.
The ambassador is Merete Juhl. The state news agency Saba identified her as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, and as non-resident ambassador to Yemen.
Al-Zouba welcomed Juhl and said she hoped the appointment would strengthen relations between the two countries, according to Saba.
The minister raised the humanitarian situation in Yemen during the meeting.
She cited displacement and damage to infrastructure, which she attributed to Houthi actions, Saba reported.
Al-Zouba also said Iran’s military support for the Houthis was destabilising.
She said the group’s missiles endangered civil aviation, according to the agency’s account.
Juhl said Denmark was committed to supporting Yemen’s security and stability, Saba reported.
She pledged cooperation on humanitarian questions and on maritime security in the Red Sea.
Both sides said they wanted closer bilateral cooperation and more diplomatic coordination on shared interests, the agency said.
The account of the meeting rests on Saba’s report of the foreign ministry’s own engagement. Saba is run by the internationally recognised government. No independent confirmation of the meeting has been published, and Yemen Herald found no separate readout from either government.
The Houthi authorities in Sanaa, who are not party to the government’s diplomatic appointments, have not commented.
Al-Zouba was appointed foreign minister by republican decree in late July, in a cabinet reshuffle. Al Jazeera gave the date as 23 July.
She is the first woman to hold the post in Yemen. Al Jazeera and The National both reported the appointment at the time.
Al-Zouba is from al-Bayda in central Yemen.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Sanaa University, a master’s in community health and health economics from a Malaysian university, and an MBA from the University of Science and Technology in Yemen.
She spent more than 25 years in development and peacebuilding work before entering government, Al Jazeera reported.
She was first deputy secretary-general of the National Dialogue Conference from 2013 to 2015, and sat on the Constitution Drafting Committee.
She took part in United Nations-led Yemeni peace consultations in Kuwait in 2016 and 2017.
She advised Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik on humanitarian relief and development from 2019.
She was appointed minister of planning and international cooperation in February, and moved to the foreign ministry in July.
Yemen’s internationally recognised government operates from Aden and from Riyadh. Much of its diplomatic business is conducted in the Saudi capital.
Juhl’s accreditation is non-resident, as Saba described it. The ceremony took place in Riyadh rather than in Yemen.
Juhl is Denmark’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Arab News reported that Riyadh’s governor, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, received her at Qasr Al-Hukm on 27 September and wished her success in her new duties.
That meeting took place three days before the credentials ceremony.
Diplomatic practice is for an ambassador to hand a copy of credentials to the foreign minister, with the originals presented to the head of state.
Saba reported separate meetings on the same day between al-Zouba and the ambassadors of Kuwait and Britain.
Those meetings covered bilateral relations, the humanitarian situation and Red Sea security, according to the agency.
The credentials ceremony came on the same day that Saudi Arabia restated its support for the Yemeni government.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in the annual royal address to the Shura Council that the kingdom would keep backing the government’s efforts to extend state authority.
Denmark is a member of the European Union, which runs a naval mission in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The mission, Aspides, escorts merchant vessels through the corridor.
Houthi forces have attacked merchant shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since late 2023. The group has said those attacks are tied to the war in Gaza.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says more than 22 million people in Yemen need assistance this year.
Its March plan put the number of acutely food insecure at 18.3 million.
The plan recorded more than 2.2 million children under five as acutely malnourished, 516,157 of them severely.
It counts 5.2 million displaced people, and seeks 2.16 billion dollars to reach 12 million of those in need.
Houthi forces have held Sanaa since September 2014. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in support of the government in March 2015.
Yemen’s government has been run since April 2022 by the Presidential Leadership Council, chaired by Rashad al-Alimi.
The council took over from President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who transferred his powers to it that month.
Saba’s report named no other officials as present at the meeting.
Denmark’s largest humanitarian presence in Yemen runs through the Danish Refugee Council.
The organisation began work in Yemen in 2008 in Aden, assisting migrants, and expanded after the conflict broadened in 2015.
It describes itself as one of the largest international non-governmental organisations operating in the country.
It runs nine field offices in Yemen and employs more than 440 staff.
Its programmes cover emergency response, protection, camp coordination and management, economic recovery, water and sanitation, shelter and non-food items, and humanitarian disarmament.
The council has cleared unexploded ordnance in Yemen and distributes cash assistance to displaced families.
Saba did not say when Juhl would present the original credentials.
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