Yemen's warring sides agree on prisoner swap

More than 880 inmates expected to be released in coming days, US says

Abdul Qader Al-Murtadha, representing Ansar Allah group, Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, and Yahya Mohammed Yahya Kazman, representing the Yemeni Government, shake haShow more

Yemen's rival factions on Monday agreed to a prisoner exchange deal in the hope of ending the war by reviving the country's stalled peace negotiations.

Talks are taking place between the government and Houthi rebels in Switzerland, chaired by UN envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Majed Fadail, Yemen's Deputy Minister for Human Rights and member of the government's prisoner swap committee, told The National a deal had been confirmed.

It will involve the Iran-backed Houthis releasing, among others, 15 Saudi Arabian soldiers and three Sudanese soldiers in exchange for more than 700 detainees from the government side, Mr Fadail said.

This stage will be followed by other releases, he added.

“The deal includes four journalists who are sentenced to death, a number of military and civilian leaders, and dozens of prisoners of the Arab coalition,” Mr Fadail said.

Those to be released by the Houthis include former Yemeni minister of defence, Maj Gen Mahmoud Al Subaihi, Maj Gen Nasser Mansour, the sons of Lt Gen Ali Mohsen, and the sons of the Vice Chairman of the Command Council, Brig Gen Tariq Saleh, he said.

The White House on Monday said "887 detainees related to the war will be released by all sides".

"The United States welcomes today’s announcement in Geneva of a major prisoner exchange agreement by the parties to the Yemen conflict," US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said.

Ms Watson thanked Mr Grundberg and the Red Cross for their work.

The Houthi head of the negotiations, Abdul Kader Al Mortadha, said the exchange would take place three weeks from now.

“Seven hundred and six of our prisoners will be exchanged for 181 prisoners from the other side, including Saudis and Sudanese,” he said.

The Houthi official said another round of negotiations would be held after the end of Ramadan to complete the agreement.

“This is a crucial step that will end the suffering of many separated families and help build confidence between the parties that we hope will lead to further release operations,” said Daphnée Maret, ICRC’s head of delegation in Yemen.

“The ICRC stands ready to continue to play the role of neutral intermediary and to facilitate purely humanitarian visits in places of detention, contribute to the re-establishment of family links, and support the release, transfer and repatriation of conflict-related detainees so that thousands more can return to their families.”

The meeting in the Swiss city of Bern, which started last week, is the seventh aimed at finding a deal on prisoner exchanges initially agreed on in Sweden five years ago.

Under that deal, the sides had agreed “to release all prisoners, detainees, missing persons, arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared persons, and those under house arrest”, held in connection with the conflict, “without any exceptions or conditions”.

"I join hundreds of Yemeni families in looking forward to the swift and smooth implementation of the releases. And I hope there will be an end soon to the suffering of all Yemenis who are still waiting to be reunited with their loved ones and who are pained by uncertainty about the fates of those dearest to them,” said Mr Grunberg,

“The United Nations remains ready and eager to facilitate progress towards releasing all conflict-related detainees. And I encourage the parties to take initiatives to release additional detainees on a unilateral and ongoing basis.”