War in Yemen: government and rebels exchange prisoners again

Released prisoners reunite with their relatives at Sana'a airport on April 14, 2023. Yemen's government and rebels agreed to exchange prisoners for three days. REUTERS - KHALED ABDULLAH

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

A vast prisoner exchange operation began on Friday (April 14th) in Yemen between enemy camps, announced the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which oversees the operation. The move comes as Saudi Arabia, which backs the government, seeks to negotiate a truce with rebels in the war-torn country since 2014.

Advertising

Read more

It had been two and a half years since such an exchange operation between the Yemeni government and the rebels had taken place. The last one was in October 2020, when more than 1,000 prisoners were released in 48 hours.

«

The first plane left Sana'a as part of the exchange that began on Friday," said Jessica Moussan, the ICRC's media relations officer. The aircraft, departing from the capital controlled by Houthi rebels, is heading to Aden, a port city less than 400 kilometers to the south, where the Saudi-backed government temporarily sits.

By the end of March, the internationally recognized Yemeni government and the Iranian-backed rebels had reached an agreement in Bern, Switzerland, to exchange more than 880 prisoners, including Saudis and Sudanese. The prisoner exchange process is to take place over three days in various parts of Yemen and Saudi Arabia, the ICRC said in a statement.

« 

With this gesture of goodwill, hundreds of conflict-torn families will be reunited for Ramadan, bringing a glimmer of hope amid great suffering. " said Fabrizio Carboni, ICRC director in the Middle East. He hopes that "these releases give impetus for a broader political solution".

Hope for a new truce

The unexpected warming of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran in early spring raised hopes of an easing of the situation in Yemen. A rare Saudi delegation was in Sana'a this week; She left on Thursday with only a "preliminary agreement" of truce and the promise of "new talks", according to a rebel official.

The talks focus on a six-month truce paving the way for a three-month period of talks about a two-year transition, according to government sources. It is during this two-year period that a final solution must be negotiated between all parties.

The truce is intended to meet the two main demands of the Houthi rebels: the payment by the government of civil servants' salaries in rebel-held areas and the reopening of Sanaa airport, strictly controlled by the Saudi air force.

In 2022, between April and October, the parties had already observed a six-month truce. While it was not officially renewed after its expiry in the autumn, the situation on the ground remained relatively calm.

Since the beginning of the conflict eight years ago and then Saudi Arabia's armed intervention in 2015, Yemen has been going through one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. The dead number in the hundreds of thousands and the displaced in the millions. Famine and disease wreak havoc on the population; three-quarters of Yemenis now depend on international aid. Aid that continues to decrease.

(

With AFP)

Newsletter Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

Read on on the same topics:

• Yemen
• Saudi Arabia
• Iran