SANAA: A prisoner exchange involving hundreds of detainees from Yemen’s brutal civil war is set to begin on Thursday, according to a Yemeni government official.
This news comes amid rising hopes for peace in the war-torn country. Around 900 prisoners, most of whom were fighting with Huthi rebels, will be exchanged between Yemen, and other nations which leads the military coalition fighting on behalf of the deposed government, the official said on Tuesday.
The Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country has suffered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with hundreds of thousands of people killed through direct and indirect causes, according to the United Nations.
The prisoner exchange, the largest since October 2020, will last three days and involve several cities in, said Majid Fadael, the official spokesperson for the government delegation negotiating the exchange.
Yemen rebels announce prisoners’ release
The Huthis have announced that they will release 181 prisoners, including Sudanese, in exchange for 706 detainees held by government forces, as part of an agreement reached last month in Switzerland.
The exchange process will take place through reciprocal flights of the Red Cross between Sanaa-Aden and Aden-Sanaa. The truce in Yemen, brokered by the UN and lapsed in October, is still holding and providing relief to the population of 30 million that is mostly dependent on aid.
However, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Huthis’ political council, warned that negotiations failing could lead to the return of war in a more fierce manner.
