Yemen.. Agreement to exchange dozens of prisoners and abductees

Aden (Union)

Talks between the Yemeni government and the Houthi group in the Omani capital, Muscat, have made significant progress with an initial agreement on a deal to exchange dozens of prisoners and abductees.
The office of the UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, announced yesterday that the government and the Houthis had reached an understanding to release prisoners and abductees.
The UN envoy’s office said in a statement published on the “X” platform: “The ongoing round of negotiations that began in the Sultanate of Oman regarding the file of detainees in connection with the conflict is taking place in a positive and constructive atmosphere so far.”
“The parties reached an understanding on procedures for releasing detainees in connection with the conflict,” he added.
He stressed the importance of completing the negotiations on this understanding in a spirit of responsibility to achieve tangible results towards the release of all detainees in connection with the conflict, in accordance with the principle of “all for all.”
He added: “The current round of negotiations comes as part of the ongoing UN efforts to support the parties to implement their obligations under the Stockholm Agreement.”
In this context, the spokesman for the government team on prisoners, Majed Fadhel, said on his account on the “X” platform: “We reached an agreement with the Houthi delegation, with the testimony of the United Nations, to exchange 50 Houthi prisoners in exchange for a Yemeni official who has been kidnapped for more than 9 years.”
Last Sunday, negotiations began in the Omani capital between the Yemeni government and the Houthi group to release prisoners and abductees under UN auspices.
A Yemeni government source said: The new deal comes within the framework of the government negotiating delegation’s keenness to adhere to the necessity of “zeroing out” detention centers and prisons as a purely humanitarian issue.
The day before yesterday, the Yemeni Minister of Information, Muammar Al-Eryani, said: The Houthis’ wide escalation on the fronts of Marib, Taiz and Hodeidah, coinciding with the launch of the round of negotiations on the exchange of prisoners and abductees, reveals their efforts to undermine any progress in this humanitarian file, and their disregard for the efforts made by brotherly and friendly countries to calm the situation and establish peace in Yemen.
In April 2023, the United Nations conducted the second prisoner and detainee exchange between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, which included more than 900 prisoners and abductees. It lasted for 3 days, and took place through 6 Yemeni and Saudi airports.
The United Nations sponsored the first prisoner exchange deal between the Yemeni government and the Houthis in October 2020, which included 1,065 detainees and prisoners, in the most prominent humanitarian breakthrough in the Yemeni crisis.