All prisoners held by the parties to the conflict in Yemen will be exchanged after the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Eid al-Fitr (Uraza Bayram), which this year will be March 21. This was announced Friday by Yemeni Interior Minister Ibrahim Ali Ahmed Haidan.
"After the holiday [Eid al-Fitr], the prisoner exchange process will continue and include all persons held by the parties to the Yemeni conflict," said the head of the Yemeni interior ministry, quoted by Al Arabiya TV.
According to Haidan, the exchange of prisoners, which began several hours ago between the official Yemeni authorities and the rebel movement Ansar Allah (Houthis), "is one of the largest prisoner exchanges in all the years of the conflict between Yemen."
According to the minister, "once the exchange is completed, the parties will have a greater understanding and desire to continue the peace process.
The prisoner exchange process began some time ago in Yemen under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). According to the UN, a total of 887 people will be handed over to each other over the next three days: 181 prisoners will be released by the Hussites and 706 by the government. The entire exchange process includes 15 flights. Among those freed by Ansar Allah are Sudanese nationals and Saudi nationals. The sides will exchange 249 former prisoners on Friday, an ICRC spokesman said. About 350 people from both sides are expected to be handed over on Saturday. It was previously reported that Ansar Allah has a total of about 1,400 government supporters in captivity.
The first planes with the freed have already landed at the airports of Aden and Sanaa, which is under Ansar Allah's control. According to Al-Hadath TV channel, among those arriving in the first group from Sanaa to Aden is the brother of former Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, Brigadier General Nasser Mansour Hadi. Former Yemeni Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Mahmoud al-Subayhi arrived in the same group in Aden.
In Yemen, the confrontation between government forces and armed groups of rebel Hussein rebels has been going on since August 2014. It reached its most active phase when the Saudi-led coalition invaded the country in March 2015.
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Photo: Jialiang Gao/Creative Commons 3.0
Based on materials from TASS