On Saturday, the Houthi group announced its readiness to implement a wide local prisoner exchange deal with the Yemeni government away from the UN mediation.
This came in a statement by the head of the group’s Prisoners’ Affairs Committee, Abdul Qader Al-Murtadha, published by the Houthi-affiliated Saba News Agency.
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Al-Murtada said: “We are ready to enter into a broad local exchange deal (with local mediation) that includes several leaders, in light of the current absence of the international role in the prisoners’ file.”
He added that “the deal includes Mahmoud Al-Subaihi (former defense minister), and Nasser Mansour Hadi (brother of President Abd Rabbo Mansour).
And other leaders if the mercenaries of aggression (meaning the government) have the authority to conclude such a deal.” There was no immediate comment from the government on the matter.
Last October, the Yemeni government and the Houthis exchanged over two days 1,056 prisoners from both sides, including 15 Saudis and 4 Sudanese, in the largest prisoner exchange since the war began.
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In consultations held in Sweden in 2018, the two parties presented statements of more than 15,000 prisoners, detainees, and abductees.
Currently, there is no accurate census of the number of prisoners of both parties, especially since others were captured after this date.
For nearly 7 years, Yemen has been witnessing a war that has claimed 233,000 lives, and 80 percent of the population of about 30 million people has become dependent on aid to survive in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the United Nations.
The conflict is further complicated by the fact that it has regional extensions. Since March 2015, an Arab coalition led by neighboring Saudi Arabia has been carrying out military operations in support of government forces.
This is in the face of the Iranian-backed Houthis, who control several governorates, including the capital, Sanaa.
