Sanaa, Yemen
The Yemeni government on Saturday accused the Houthis of evading their obligations regarding the prisoner trade.
“The Houthi militias are avoiding fulfilling their obligations on the prisoner issue,” Yahya Kazman, head of the government's negotiating committee, said in a statement.
Kazman said the Houthis were “kidnapping civilians from their homes, workplaces, universities and roads and using them as a means of political pressure and intimidation.”
“The first step in resolving this issue is to clarify the fate of those abducted by the militias,” he added.
On Friday night, Yemen's Houthi rebels announced they would release 100 prisoners as part of a humanitarian effort.
The legitimate government and the Houthi rebels had previously conducted several prisoner exchange deals through domestic and international efforts.
At UN-sponsored talks in Sweden in 2018, the parties submitted a list containing the names of more than 15,000 prisoners, detainees and abductees.
The exact number of prisoners taken by each side is unknown, but the numbers have continued to grow, especially since then.
In March 2023, following talks in Switzerland, the Yemeni government and the Houthis agreed to release 887 prisoners and detainees from both sides.
In April 2023, the legitimate government announced that it had completed the first wave of a prisoner exchange process with the Houthis, involving around 900 prisoners from both sides.
Yemen has been gripped by war since the Houthis seized control of the capital, Sanaa, and several provinces in late 2014.
The conflict escalated in March 2015 when a Saudi-led Arab military coalition intervened to support legitimate government forces against the Iran-backed Houthis.
* Author: Ikram Kouachi
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