Saudi Arabia “unilaterally” frees more than a hundred detainees after prisoner swap in Yemen

The president of the authorities established by the Houthis highlights the “positive” contacts with Riyadh

17 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The Government of Saudi Arabia will release this Monday “unilaterally” more than a hundred prisoners with a view to their transfer to Yemen, one day after the end of a prisoner exchange between the Houthis and the internationally recognized authorities in the Asian country. .

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has confirmed on its Twitter account that it is “facilitating” the “unilateral release of 104 former detainees from Abha, in Saudi Arabia, to Sanaa and Aden, in Yemen.” “The first flight with more than 50 former detainees has taken off,” he added.

The releases come a day after a three-day prisoner exchange ended following an agreement reached on 20 March in the Swiss capital Berne at a meeting co-chaired by the ICRC together with the office of the special envoy of the General Secretariat for United Nations for Yemen, Hans Grundberg.

The president of the Supreme Political Council established by the Houthis in Yemen, Mahdi al Mashat, has applauded the recent exchange of prisoners with the internationally recognized government and has confirmed that the recent contacts with Saudi Arabia were “positive”.

Al Mashat has indicated that there were “many rounds” of talks with a view to reaching an agreement on the exchange of prisoners and has stressed that “the obstacles imposed by the enemies” and “the years of torment and separation” have been overcome, as reported Yemeni news agency SABA.

“My message to all those who are still behind bars is that we promise them and their honorable families that we will do everything possible to free them, regardless of the price and the challenges,” the Houthis senior official said from the capital of Yemen, Sana’a.

Likewise, he has highlighted that the conversations held recently with an official Saudi delegation that traveled to Sana’a were “positive” and has confirmed that there will be a new meeting after the month of Ramadan ends, as reported by the Al television network. Masirah, linked to the group.

The Saudi delegation was accompanied by another Omani delegation and presented to the Houthis a draft peace agreement already endorsed by the internationally recognized government, now represented by the Presidential Leadership Council, as part of a boost to the contact process following the agreement in March between Riyadh and Tehran to restore their diplomatic relations.

The war in Yemen has ended up plunging what was one of the poorest countries in the world into the worst humanitarian catastrophe at present, according to the United Nations. More than 21 million Yemenis – two thirds of the population – will need humanitarian aid this year and 17 million of them will need to receive it urgently to survive.

The conflict – which confronts the Houthis, supported by Iran, and the internationally recognized authorities, backed by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia – has left almost 380,000 dead – more than 85,000 of them children -, either due to the fighting or by hunger and disease, to which four million displaced people must be added, according to data considered by UN agencies.