Foreign Minister Afrah al-Zouba raises attacks on shipping in call with Indonesian counterpart
Yemen Herald News 
ADEN, Yemen — Yemen’s foreign minister raised Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in a phone call with her new Indonesian counterpart on Friday, the state news agency said.
Afrah al-Zouba, minister of foreign and expatriate affairs, spoke with Arrmanatha Christiawan Nasir, who took office as Indonesia’s foreign minister at the start of this month.
The two discussed developments in Yemen and the wider region and ways to strengthen relations between the two countries, according to Saba.
They discussed what Saba described as Houthi threats to international shipping and attacks on commercial vessels, including attacks that affected Indonesian sailors.
Nasir thanked the Yemeni government for facilitating the affairs of Indonesian citizens in Yemen, the agency said.
He reaffirmed Indonesia’s support for Yemen’s unity and stability, according to the same account.
The two ministers agreed to arrange mutual visits, activate a joint committee between the two governments and maintain coordination, Saba said.
The agency did not say when any visit would take place or when the joint committee last met.
The joint committee is a bilateral mechanism for coordinating cooperation between the two governments.
Al-Zouba condemned missile and drone attacks on the Maashiq presidential palace in Aden and on the city of Marib, which she attributed to Houthi forces.
She also condemned what she called continued violations and attacks on civilians in Taiz.
The Houthi authorities have not responded to her remarks. They have disputed government accounts of attacks on civilian areas in the past.
International outlets reported the attack on the Maashiq palace, which the Yemeni government said killed soldiers. The palace is the seat of the Presidential Leadership Council in Aden.
The Yemeni government said Houthi forces fired 16 missiles and other projectiles at residential districts of Marib this week. That account rests on government and local authority sources and has been carried by regional outlets.
This account of the call rests on Saba, the news agency of the internationally recognised government. No independent confirmation of the conversation has been published, and Yemen Herald could not verify it separately.
Indonesia’s foreign ministry has not issued its own readout of the call.
In recent weeks al-Zouba has used similar calls with counterparts and United Nations bodies to press for international measures against the Houthi movement, according to Saba reports.
Nasir was sworn in as Indonesia’s 19th foreign minister at the start of October, succeeding Sugiono in a cabinet reshuffle by President Prabowo Subianto.
He had served as deputy foreign minister since October 2024.
Before that he was Indonesia’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York from 2021 to 2024.
He was ambassador to France, Andorra, Monaco and UNESCO from 2019 to 2021, and spokesman and chief of staff at the foreign ministry from 2014 to 2019.
Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.
Indonesia supplies large numbers of crew to the international merchant fleet, and Indonesian nationals have been among those hurt in attacks on shipping.
An Indonesian crew member was among those killed when a missile struck a cargo ship in the Bab al-Mandab Strait on Aug. 12, according to international news reports.
The Yemeni government said six people died in that attack. Four of the dead were Pakistani nationals.
The Bab al-Mandab Strait links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and carries a large share of traffic between Europe and Asia.
Shipping companies have rerouted vessels around southern Africa at various points since attacks on merchant traffic began, adding time and cost to voyages.
The Houthi movement has said its operations at sea are tied to the wider conflict in the region.
Attacks on merchant traffic in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden have drawn naval deployments by several countries.
Human Rights Watch said in September that recent Houthi attacks include acts that are likely war crimes. The group’s findings are disputed by the Houthi authorities.
The United Nations Security Council this week adopted a presidential statement condemning what it called escalating Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia.
It was the Council’s first such statement on Yemen in several years.
Britain holds the pen on Yemen at the Security Council, meaning it drafts the Council’s texts on the country.
The call took place as government forces press an offensive they call Dawn of Yemen, launched this month.
The Yemeni government and the European Union have both described the situation in Taiz as a Houthi siege. The Houthi authorities reject that characterisation.
Taiz is Yemen’s third-largest city. Its supply routes have been cut at several points during the current fighting.
Marib is a government-held city in central Yemen and hosts a large displaced population.
Yemen’s internationally recognised government is based in Aden. The Houthi administration controls Sanaa and much of the north.
The two governments maintain separate foreign ministries, and most states deal with the Aden-based administration.
Saba operates under the internationally recognised government. A separate agency using the same name operates from Sanaa.
Al-Zouba was appointed foreign minister earlier this year.
The agency did not say where either minister was when the call took place.
Saba rendered the Indonesian minister’s name as Armanatha Kristiawan Nasir. The Indonesian government spells it Arrmanatha Christiawan Nasir.
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