Yemeni rebels free 276 government loyalists

Aden // Yemen’s Houthis have released 276 government loyalists who had been held captive by the Shiite rebels for months.

The rebels’ website sabanews.net said on Sunday that 200 detainees were set free in Rada, a town in the central province of Baida, and another 76 were released in nearby Dhamar province.

The move was a sign of “good will” on the occasion of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, said the website, citing officials.

The detainees in Rada had been captured for allegedly “cooperating with the Arab military coalition and being loyal to the government” of UN-backed president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi, an official said.

Those freed in Dhamar had been detained on accusations they had been preparing to join government forces, the official added.

Their release comes a day after the exchange of 194 prisoners in Taez, in southwestern Yemen, following tribal mediation unconnected to UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait.

Those negotiations, now into their ninth week, have made no major breakthroughs, even on the issue of prisoners.

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia released more than 50 children it had captured during fighting with the Houthis, while the rebels freed 187 captives.

More than 6,400 people have been killed since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen’s conflict in March 2015, the majority of them civilians, the UN says.

The fighting has also driven 2.8 million people from their homes and left more than 80 per cent of the population in urgent need of humanitarian aid.

* Agence France-Presse