Saudi Arabia frees dozens of Yemeni prisoners amid peace talks

Yemen’s Ansarullah movement says Riyadh has released dozens of its fighters under a deal to quell fighting on the Saudi-Yemeni border as peace talks between the warring sides continue in Kuwait.

“We received 40 prisoners, 20 of those were captured inside Yemen,” Reuters quoted a Ansarullah spokesman, Mohammed Abdulsalam, as saying in a statement on Saturday.

The official, however, did not elaborate on the location where the remaining prisoners are being held.

The development comes as Ansarullah fighters and their allies, on the one hand, and Saudi-backed supporters of ex-president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, on the other side, are holding UN-brokered negotiations aimed at ending the conflict gripping the impoverished state.

The discussions, which started in Kuwait City on April 21 after a three-day delay, are underway against the backdrop of an open-ended ceasefire that began in the conflict-ridden country at midnight on April 10.

Warring parties also began face-to-face negotiations for the first time on April 30.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the UN special envoy for Yemen, described the atmosphere of the talks as positive, saying “everyone renewed their commitment to cease hostilities.”

On Saturday, a Houthi delegation in the peace talks presented a plan to the UN for a transitional government to oversee a handing over of weapons and freeing of political prisoners before elections.

The Ansarullah have demanded the exclusion of Hadi from the future vote, according to a negotiating source. Meanwhile, the Hadi side wants the Houthis and allies to hand over arms and withdraw from the areas under their control.

SS