Red Cross: Yemen’s Houthis, Saudi coalition begin prisoner swap
An exchange of more than 800 prisoners linked to Yemen’s long-running war began on Friday, the International Committee for the Red Cross said. The United Nations-brokered deal, in the works for months, comes amid concerted diplomatic efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict.
The three-day operation will be the most significant prisoner exchange in Yemen since the Saudi-led coalition and Houthis released more than 1,000 detainees in October 2020, AP reported.
Thousands of people are still believed to be held as prisoners of war since the conflict erupted, with others missing. But Fabrizio Carboni, the Red Cross’ regional director, said the release “gives a sense of momentum” for efforts to end the war.
“This will show that there is no way back to violence,” Carboni told journalists. The Red Cross later said that a total of 318 detainees were released on Friday.
In Sana’a, the Houthi-held capital of Yemen, dozens of former prisoners descended from a plane to a marching band and traditional Yemeni dancers, wearing ribbons with the colors of the Yemeni flag. Family members and a reception line of Houthi political leaders greeted the released with hugs and kisses.
An injured man was seen supported by medical workers. Carboni acknowledged some former prisoners needed medical care before making their flight, but “nothing out of the ordinary.”
Meanwhile, prisoners released by Houthis took flights to Aden, the seat of the country’s former government allied with Saudi Arabia. Two rounds of simultaneous flights Friday between Aden and Sana’a transferred the prisoners.
As part of the exchange, flights will transport prisoners from government-controlled cities inside Yemen and Saudi Arabia to Sana’a, said Majed Fadail, a deputy minister for human rights for Yemen’s former government.
Saudi Arabia launched the bloody war against Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allies and with arms and logistics support from the US and several Western states to reinstall Mansour Hadi, who resigned from the presidency in late 2014 and later fled to Riyadh amid a political conflict with the popular Houthi Ansarullah movement. The war objective was also to crush the Ansarullah movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen.