Yemen’s warring parties agree prisoner swap at UN-brokered talks

Yemen’s National Salvation Government and the Saudi-sponsored administration of the ousted President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi have agreed at UN-brokered talks in Switzerland to swap more than 880 prisoners.

"An agreement has been reached to implement a (prisoner) swap" that will see more than 880 people released in total, said Abdul Qader al-Murtada, the leading delegate of the popular Ansarullah resistance movement to the talks in Bern, according to Yemen's al-Masirah news channel on Monday. The exchange is set to take place within weeks.

Under the agreement, Ansarullah will release 181 detainees, including Saudi and Sudanese nationals, in exchange for 706 prisoners, said Murtada, who heads the National Committee for Prisoners' Affairs. "The swap will be implemented after three weeks." 

Majed Fadail, a member of the Saudi-sponsored administration's delegation, said Ansarullah would release former defense minister, Mahmoud al-Subaihi, and other officials, as well as four journalists. At least 15 Saudi citizens and three Sudanese nationals were among those to be freed.

The negotiations in Switzerland, overseen by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), started earlier this month.

The latest negotiations mark the seventh meeting aimed at implementing an agreement on prisoner exchanges reached in Sweden five years ago.

MG