AMN
In a positive development, a three-day prisoner exchange between Yemen’s warring parties began on Friday. The exchange started with flights between Sanaa, the rebel-held capital, and Aden, the government’s temporary base.
More than 300 detainees were released over the three days, with 70 travelling from Sanaa to Aden on board two flights, and 250 being sent from Aden to Sanaa aboard a Yemenia flight. The exchange operation is part of a plan agreed upon by the parties in Switzerland in March. The parties have committed to meet again in May to organize more releases.
The former defence minister, Mahmoud Al Subeihi, and Nasser Mansur Hadi, brother of former president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who had been detained since 2015, are among those being released from Sanaa. A red carpet and military salute welcomed the former officials when they landed at around 12pm Aden time. Footage from the airport grounds showed elated Yemenis dancing.
Nearly 900 conflict-related detainees are being released by the parties in Yemen, starting on Friday and continuing over three days. The parties have committed to meet again in May to organize more releases.The Supervisory Committee on the Detainees’ Exchange Agreement, co-chaired by the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen (OSESGY) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) with the membership of the parties, is overseeing the release operation. ICRC is managing the implementation of the operation, which includes flights between six airports in Yemen and Saudi Arabia over three days to repatriate the released detainees.
The release of the detainees has been welcomed by the UN envoy as a reminder that constructive dialogue and mutual settlements are powerful tools capable of achieving important results.Special Envoy Grundberg thanked the parties for their collaboration with his office and ICRC to implement the plan agreed in March. He also urged the parties to immediately and unconditionally release all arbitrarily detained individuals and to adhere to international legal standards in regards to detention and fair trials.