Warring Yemen sides agree prisoner swap deal ahead of UN peace talks
The Saudi-backed Yemeni government and the rebel Houthis agreed to a mass prisoner swap on Monday, in a boost to United Nations peace talks which are expected to begin on Wednesday.
Between 1,500 and 2,000 members of pro-government forces and between 1,000 and 1,500 rebels would be released after the talks in Stockholm, in the most positive sign since the conflict began in 2015.
Thousands of prisoners have been captured by both sides in the grinding war of attrition that has devastated Yemen.
On the government side, they include former defence minister Mahmoud al-Subaihi, who has been held by the Houthis ever since they overran the capital Sanaa in late 2014, and President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s brother Nasser, a general and former senior intelligence official.
The deal was brokered by Martin Griffiths, the British UN envoy to Yemen, who has spent the last few days talking to the warring sides in Sanaa.
A Houthi delegation was on its way to Sweden with Mr Griffithson on Tuesday and was due to arrive late evening. The Yemeni government in exile agreed to leave only after the Houthis, who failed to show up for the last round of talks in September.
"This is one step in the right direction towards the building of mutual trust among Yemeni communities," said Mirella Hodeib, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as she welcomed the agreement.
The UN is seeking to introduce a set of confidence-building measures, including a ceasefire in the strategic port city of Hodeidah and an end to the air attacks across the country by Saudi Arabia and partner United Arab Emirates.
It is also expected to push for President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi to restart payment of salaries to civil servants in Houthi-held areas, the halt of which in 2016 has plunged much of the country into extreme poverty.
The Houthis in return will be expected to cease all rocket and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The UN said the worsening situation in Yemen underlined the importance of the planned peace talks.
Overall, 24 million people in Yemen – roughly 75 per cent of the population – will need humanitarian assistance in 2019, Mark Lowcock, UN humanitarian chief, told reporters, adding that the forecast looks worse than 2018.
If the negotiations show results, "it is possible that we could find by the second half of the year that the extreme edge could get taken off the suffering of those people who have no form of income," he said.
The talks came as the Senate prepared to vote on a final resolution on ending the US’s support for the war, in an indication of the increasingly troubling US-Saudi relationship.
If it passes in the Senate it would still need to pass the House, which will be under Democrat control from January. However, President Donald Trump, who has remained firmly behind Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, could still veto the move.
The UK, which tabled a draft resolution on Yemen at the UN last month, is understood to have been pressured by Riyadh to remove references to a UN-led inquiry into possible Saudi war crimes.
Jeremy Hunt, Foreign Secretary, when questioned by shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, conceded they were forced to make concessions: “I can confirm both the original text, and the current text, refers to international humanitarian law, but in the process of getting that text agreed, did we make compromises to the Saudis, did we make compromises to the Houthis? Yes, we did, and as a result of this diplomacy, talks are happening this week.”