Sanaa (EFE).- The internationally recognized Yemeni government and Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels have agreed to an exchange of 2,900 prisoners, UN mediators and a Houthi official reported Tuesday, after almost two weeks of talks in Oman.
Abdelqader Murtada, the head of the Houthi Prisoners commission, said in his official X account that the pact contemplates the release of 1,700 Houthi prisoners held by the Yemeni government in exchange for 1,200 detainees held by the insurgents, who control the capital, Sanaa, and other parts of the country.
The swap will include seven Saudi and 23 Sudanese nationals held by the Houthis, he said. These last prisoners were reportedly captured while fighting as part of the Saudi-led military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015, in support of the government and against the Houthis.
The deputy head of the Yemeni government delegation said in his official X account that among those released will be the politician Mohammed Qahtan of the Islah party, linked to the Muslim Brotherhood brotherhood, after being forcibly disappeared for 11 years.
The United Nations mission in Yemen confirmed that the parties to the conflict in Yemen concluded a 11-day meeting in Muscat, the capital of Oman, at which they agreed on a new phase of release of conflict-related detainees.
The talks took place within the framework of the Supervisory Committee on the Implementation of the Detainees’ Exchange Agreement, co-chaired by the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Yemen and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The meeting marked the 10th session of the committee established under the 2018 Stockholm Agreement, which committed the parties to the conflict to release all conflict-related detainees.
Saudi officials also participated in this meeting with the Houthis, according to the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Jaber.
For his part, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, welcomed the result and underlined the humanitarian importance of progress in the release of detainees.
He also thanked Oman – the main mediator between the Houthis and the Yemeni government – for hosting the talks and for its continued support for UN mediation efforts.
Prisoner exchanges have been a recurrent measure to build confidence in the decade-long war in Yemen, which has caused tens of thousands of deaths and plunged the country into one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. EFE
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