Prisoner swap begins today: doubts overshadow implementation

Sana’a | Amid growing doubts from the “National Committee for Prisoner Affairs” in Sana’a about the commitment of the government of outgoing President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi to complete the prisoner exchange agreement in accordance with the United Nations-sponsored agreement Last month in the Swiss city of Montreux, a delegation from the “International Committee of the Red Cross” arrived yesterday in the Yemeni capital, with the aim of supervising the implementation of the agreement, starting today Thursday. According to the executive mechanism, the “Red Cross” will transfer the prisoners of both sides, today, from the city of Aden to the capital, Sanaa, and vice versa, since the Yemeni army and the Popular Committees will receive their prisoners from the so-called “Resistance of the South”, in exchange for the release of southern prisoners loyal to the Emirates. On Friday, the “Red Cross” will transfer a second group of prisoners from Marib to Sana’a and vice versa. After the implementation of this first step, the two parties will meet again, under the auspices of the United Nations, to agree on the culmination of the exchange process.

Amid high hopes among hundreds of families of prisoners in Sanaa to complete the deal, the head of the National Prisoners Affairs Committee, Abdul Qadir Al-Murtado, expressed doubts that the other party will fulfill its obligations, noting that the Information so far indicates that the Hadi government is not ready to implement the agreement. Al-Murtado said, in a tweet on “Twitter”: “Every now and then they put obstacles and make excuses to thwart the deal,” calling on the United Nations to “put an end to this stubbornness and absurdity.” On Monday, Al-Murtado announced Sanaa’s readiness to implement the agreement on the specified date, after completing all the procedures and preparations.

Today, the “Red Cross” will transfer prisoners from both sides of Aden to Sanaa and vice versa.

For their part, sources close to the “Southern Transitional Council”, affiliated with the Emirates, quoted the representative of the “Southern Resistance”, Yasser Al-Hadi, of his commitment to implement the agreement on the appointed date. He indicated that the “Red Cross” informed them that the implementation would be carried out in two batches, since on Thursday, 230 prisoners from the Hadi forces, 15 from the Saudi forces and 4 from the Sudanese forces, in exchange for the release of 479 prisoners from Sanaa. The second group followed on Friday, when 151 prisoners from the militias loyal to the United Arab Emirates will be released, compared to 201 (one of whom died due to Corona) from the army and committees. As for the Marib authorities affiliated with the Islah party (the Muslim Brotherhood), according to informed sources, there is a clear evasion on their part of the implementation of the agreement. In light of the above, human rights activists asked the “Supreme Political Council” of Sana’a to be firm regarding the swap agreement and not allow its fragmentation. It is worth mentioning here that the Montreux agreement includes the release of 1,081 prisoners, of whom 600 are from the Sana’a forces, 15 from Saudis and 4 from Sudan.
In preparation to implement the agreement, 283 injured people returned to Sana’a International Airport yesterday after receiving treatment. Hundreds of injured families and their families lined up at the airport gate to greet the returnees. Leading the recipients was a member of the Supreme Political Council, Muhammad Ali al-Houthi, who welcomed the return of the wounded to the homeland, which coincided with others who were heading to Oman yesterday for treatment. According to Omani television, this step is part of an agreement reached with Sanaa to free two Americans who were arrested three years ago in connection with “national security” cases, in exchange for the return of the wounded Yemenis stranded in the Sultanate. two years ago (in total 250, while the rest were outside Oman). Official television indicated that Sultan Haitham bin Tariq ordered the relevant authorities to pressure to facilitate the completion of the agreement, noting that the relevant authorities in Sana’a responded to Oman’s efforts and agreed to release the Americans and transport them to the Sultanate on a flight. belonging to the Omani Air Force, in preparation for his return to his country. .

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