The Saudi Arabian government will release on Monday »unilaterally» more than a hundred prisoners in view of their transfer to Yemen, a day after the end of a prisoner exchange between the Huthis and the internationally recognized authorities in the Asian country.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has confirmed on its Twitter social network account that it is »facilitating» the »unilateral release of 104 former detainees from Abha in Saudi Arabia to Sana’a and Aden in Yemen». »The first flight with more than 50 former detainees has taken off,» he added.
The releases come a day after the conclusion of three days of prisoner exchanges following an agreement reached on March 20 in the Swiss capital, Bern, at a meeting co-chaired by the ICRC together with the office of the UN Secretary General’s special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg.
The president of the Supreme Political Council set up by the Huthis in Yemen, Mahdi al Mashat, welcomed the recent prisoner exchange with the internationally recognized government and confirmed that recent contacts with Saudi Arabia were «positive».
Al Mashat said that there were »many rounds» of talks aimed at reaching a pact on the prisoner exchange and stressed that »the obstacles imposed by the enemies» and »the years of torment and separation» were overcome, Yemen’s SABA news agency reported.
»My message to all those who are still behind bars is that we promise, to them and their honorable families, that we will do our best to free them, regardless of the price and challenges,» the senior Huthi official said from Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.
He also stressed that the talks held recently with an official Saudi delegation that went to Sanaa were »positive» and confirmed that there will be a new meeting after the end of the month of Ramadan, as reported by the Al Masirah television channel, linked to the group.
The Saudi delegation was accompanied by another Omani delegation and presented to the Huthis 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 contacts process following the agreement in March between Riyadh and Tehran to restore their diplomatic relations.
The war in Yemen has ultimately plunged what was once one of the world’s poorest countries into the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the world today, 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 have to receive it urgently in order to survive.
The conflict – which pits the Huthis, supported by Iran, against the internationally recognized authorities, backed by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia – has left almost 380,000 people dead – more than 85,000 of them children – either from the fighting or from hunger and disease, to which must be added four million displaced persons, according to UN agencies.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
