Yemen’s Houthis, Pro-Hadi Forces Meet on Stalled Prisoner Swap

TEHRAN (defapress) – The head of the UN mission in Yemen launched talks between Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement and forces loyal to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi met in Jordan Tuesday for talks on implementing a stalled prisoner exchange agreed upon in December.

News ID: 75431

Date: 06 February 2019 - 10:26

The UN envoy Martin Griffiths said the meeting aims to “finalize the list of prisoners and detainees to be released and exchanged.”

He stressed that a breakthrough in the prisoners’ deal would give momentum to the rocky talks over Yemen’s crucial port of Hodeida, where a UN-brokered truce has witnessed multiple breaches, AP reported.

“Success in this regard is not only of huge importance for those who will be released and returned to their families but also for the broader political process in which we are engaged together,” Griffiths said.

A Red Cross official said Monday that the deal has stalled because each side is demanding the release of more prisoners than the other claims to be holding.

Dominik Stillhart, operations director of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said each side gave a list with 8,000 names, but the other side says they are holding a “significantly lower” number.

The two sides agreed on the prisoner swap and a local cease-fire in the key port city of Hudaydah - through which Yemen imports most of its food and humanitarian aid - at UN-led talks held in Sweden in December.

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