Yemen’s Houthi rebels and the internationally recognized government have agreed to exchange more than 880 prisoners during negotiations in Switzerland, both sides said Monday, in another sign of hope as efforts to de-escalate the war.
The agreed exchange comes after Saudi Arabia and Iran, which withdrew from opposing sides in the conflict, this month moved to restore diplomatic ties after a seven-year rupture.
“An agreement has been reached to implement a (prisoner) exchange” that will see more than 880 people freed in total, Abdul Qader al-Murtada, a prominent Huthi envoy to the Geneva talks, said, according to the rebel Al-Masirah TV channel. .
The exchange is set to take place in the week, he said.
Huthi rebels seized control of the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led intervention the following year and fighting that has left hundreds of thousands dead and fueled one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
A UN-brokered ceasefire that took effect last April has led to an easing of hostilities.
The cease-fire expired in October, although the fighting remained on hold.
Under the agreement, the Iran-backed Huthis will release 181 prisoners, including Saudi and Sudanese nationals, in exchange for 706 prisoners, said Murtada, who heads the Huthi National Committee for Prisoner Affairs.
Sudanese soldiers have joined the Saudi-led coalition.
“The swap will be implemented after three weeks,” Murtada said, noting there are plans for another prisoner exchange negotiation in the coming months.
Majed Fadail, a member of the Yemeni government delegation, said the Huthis would release former defense minister Mahmoud al-Subaihi and other officials, as well as four journalists.
A Yemeni government official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said 15 Saudi nationals and three Sudanese nationals were among those to be released.
Diplomatic momentum
The prisoner exchange was announced after Hans Grundberg, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Yemen, last week noted “strong diplomatic efforts” to end the conflict.
Negotiations in Switzerland, overseen by the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), began earlier this month. The UN and the ICRC have yet to comment on the deal.
The latest closed-door negotiations in Geneva marked the seventh meeting aimed at implementing an agreement on the exchange of prisoners in Sweden five years ago.
In the agreement, the parties agreed to “release all prisoners, detainees, disappeared persons, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances, and persons under house arrest”, related to the conflict, “without exception or conditions “.
The latest deal comes a year after the Huthis said they had agreed to a prisoner swap that would see 1,400 rebels released in exchange for 823 pro-government fighters – including 16 Saudis and three Sudanese nationals.
In 2020, more than 1,050 prisoners were released following agreements reached by warring parties, according to the ICRC.
During a Security Council meeting last week, UN officials said detente between Saudi Arabia and Iran should provide momentum for peace.
However, it will not solve all the problems in Yemen, where the influence of the two regional powers is only one dimension of the increasingly complex conflict, analysts warn.