Pak Sahafat – The head of the National Prisoner Affairs Committee of the National Salvation Government of Yemen announced the beginning of the exchange operation of 887 prisoners of war from Friday.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency’s report, Abdul Qadir al-Mortaza, the head of the National Prisoner Affairs Committee of the National Salvation Government of Yemen, wrote in a tweet that he received a letter from the Red Cross stating that the process of exchanging prisoners will begin next Friday.
He added: After announcing the readiness of all parties to implement the agreed deal, we were informed by the International Committee of the Red Cross that they will start the prisoner exchange operation from (Friday) coinciding with the 23rd of the holy month of Ramadan.
Previously, the operation of the exchange of prisoners of war in Yemen was supposed to be carried out on the 19th of the holy month of Ramadan, but according to the announcement of the International Committee of the Red Cross, due to the lack of preparation of the aggressors in the “Marib” front, the implementation of the agreement on the exchange of prisoners was postponed.
Negotiations on the case of prisoners of war in Yemen ended last March 20 in Switzerland, and it was agreed to release 706 prisoners from Ansarullah and 181 prisoners from the other side, including Saudis and Sudanese, during an operation, and another round of negotiations after Ramadan to complete the implementation.
Al-Mortaza said: He added: On the first day of the exchange, prisoners will be exchanged between Sana’a and Aden, on the second day, Sana’a prisoners will be exchanged with Saudi Arabia, and on the third day, Sana’a prisoners will be exchanged with Marib.
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Also, “Hans Grundberg”, the UN special representative for Yemeni affairs, welcomed the agreement between Sana’a and the Saudi coalition for the exchange of prisoners on April 1 and said: The warring parties in Yemen have concluded a 10-day meeting in Switzerland where an executive plan to release 887 war-related prisoners was finalized.
He added: The parties agreed to hold a meeting next May to discuss the release of more prisoners.
Also, earlier, “Mohammed Abdulsalam”, the spokesman of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement and the head of the Sana’a negotiating team, announced the imminent agreement between Saudi Arabia and Yemen on the exchange of prisoners.
Ansarullah spokesman said: According to the Swedish agreement and after several rounds of negotiations, the current negotiations in Geneva under the supervision of the United Nations are moving towards reaching a humanitarian deal, according to which 700 prisoners, including women and civilians, will be released in exchange for the release of 15 Saudi prisoners of war.
The exchange of captives is one of the basic issues in the Yemeni-Yemeni dialogues in Switzerland, and efforts in this field have always failed, and only in some cases, a number of captives have been exchanged through local mediation.
Previously, a number of prisoners of the Yemeni army and forces affiliated with the resigned and fugitive government of this country were released in several stages through local intermediaries.