AL-MUKALLA: Warring factions in Yemen launched a major prisoner swap on Friday, exchanging 316 detainees on the opening day of a three-day operation that will free almost 900 captives during Ramadan.
After days of delays, an International Committee of the Red Cross aircraft carrying 34 government detainees held by the militia, including former defense minister Mohammed Mahmoud Al-Subaihy and Nasser Mansour Hadi, the former president’s brother and a former intelligence official, landed at Aden airport, where hundreds of relatives and local officials awaited them.
At the same time, a Yemenia fight carrying 124 Houthi detainees flew from Aden to militia-held Sanaa, where it was greeted with flowers and dancing on arrival.
“We’ve begun a multi-day humanitarian operation to transfer nearly 900 detainees held in relation to the conflict in #Yemen. Our team has assessed the health of the detainees and confirmed they are fit to travel,” the ICRC announced on Twitter after the two aircraft took off from Aden and Sanaa airports.
@FatimaSator is in Aden Airport, #Yemen pic.twitter.com/kb8MUQuIFq
— ICRC (@ICRC) April 14, 2023
On Friday afternoon, Yahya Kazman, head of the Yemeni government’s delegation in the prisoner exchange talks, said that a second Yemeni flight carrying almost 124 Houthis had left Aden airport for Sanaa, while another ICRC flight carrying 34 government detainees had flown in the opposite direction, effectively ending the first day of the prisoner swap.
On Saturday, Yemeni government, Houthi and Arab coalition captives will be transferred via ICRC-chartered flights between Yemen’s Mokha and Sanaa airports, and Saudi Arabia’s Abha and Riyadh airports.
On the third and final day of the operation, ICRC aircraft will travel from Sanaa to Marib airport with four Yemeni journalists and more government captives before returning to Sanaa with Houthi detainees.
The agreement to exchange over 900 prisoners came during talks between the Yemeni government and the Houthis in Switzerland last month.
It is the second-biggest prisoner swap between the warring factions since the conflict began in late 2014, and rekindles hopes of an end to the eight-year war.
In October 2020, around 1,000 prisoners were exchanged. Both warring parties are scheduled to meet again to negotiate another prisoner swap.
The UN Yemen envoy, Hans Grundberg, who sponsored the talks, said that by the end of the operation, hundreds of Yemenis will be reunited with their families and able to celebrate Eid.
He urged Yemen’s rival factions to use the positive energy generated by the prisoner swap to empty their prisons of detainees and work toward a peace agreement.
“Today, hundreds of Yemeni families get to celebrate Eid with their loved ones because the parties negotiated and reached an agreement. I hope this spirit is reflected in ongoing efforts to advance a comprehensive political solution,” Grundberg said.
UPDATE: We've begun a multi-day humanitarian operation to transfer nearly 900 detainees held in relation to the conflict in #Yemen.
Our team has assessed the health of the detainees and confirmed they are fit to travel.
Follow @ICRC_ye and @ICRC_kw for updates. pic.twitter.com/zut2e8VtYQ
— ICRC (@ICRC) April 14, 2023
“Thousands more families are still waiting to be reunited with their loved ones. I hope the parties build on the success of this operation to fulfill the commitment they made to the Yemeni people in the Stockholm Agreement to release all conflict-related detainees and bring this suffering to an end.”
Meanwhile, in Sanaa, the Houthi’s chief negotiator, Mohammed Abdul Sallam, said on Friday that militia discussions with the Saudi delegation in Sanaa had made progress and that some issues will be discussed in a second round of talks, once again dashing hopes of a deal to end the war by April 21.
“The delegations concluded their negotiations in Sanaa, the capital, after serious and constructive discussions and progress on some issues, with the hope of resuming the discussion of outstanding issues at a later date,” Abdul Sallam said on Twitter.
A Saudi delegation led by Ambassador Mohammed Al-Jaber, along with other delegates from Oman, arrived in Sanaa just over a week ago to discuss the final text of a peace agreement that had been ratified by the Yemeni government.
A Yemeni government official told Arab News on Friday that the primary source of contention was the Houthi demand that the government transfer the budgets of all Yemeni provinces under militia control, and that they handle the distribution of salaries and other funds to government bodies.
The government rejected the demand, accusing the Houthis of planning to use the funds to pay their combatants, and proposing that a committee directly pay public employees in Houthi areas based on the 2014 payroll.
“The proposed solution is for an economic committee to examine the financial statements and pay the beneficiaries directly,” the government official, who requested anonymity, said.
