Sana'a [Yemen], December 24: Yemen's government and their rivals, the Houthis, have reached a prisoner swap agreement which will see the release of 2,900 people, officials said on Tuesday.
A member of the government's negotiating team, Majid Fadael, told dpa that seven Saudi citizens, 20 Sudanese and prominent Yemeni politician Mohammed Qahtan will be released as part of the deal.
Houthi negotiator Abdul-Qader Al-Mortada confirmed the deal in a post on X, saying that the large-scale prisoner exchange will involve releasing "1,700 of our prisoners in exchange for 1,200 of theirs." The deal comes at the end of a 12-day meeting in the Omani capital Muscat, according to a statement by the UN envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg, who welcomed the outcome of the meeting.
"Reaching an agreement over another phase of the release of conflict-related detainees is a positive and meaningful step that will hopefully ease the suffering of detainees and their families across Yemen," Grundberg said.
The last prisoner exchange between the Yemeni government and the Houthis took place in 2023, when around 900 detainees were released, including members of the Saudi-led coalition forces.
Yemen has been locked in a devastating conflict for more than a decade, since the Iran-allied Houthi rebels took over the capital Sana'a and other parts in northern Yemen in late 2014.
Since then, Saudi Arabia been leading a coalition to support the government against Houthi advances.
However, there have also been tensions within the anti-Houthi alliance. Recently, the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) has been gaining ground in the south and the eastern provinces while fighting their allies, the government forces.
Source: Qatar Tribune
