While the eyes of the Yemenis were directed towards the implementation of the prisoner exchange deal between the Yemeni government and the Houthi militia, which was concluded last month, in the coming days, the Undersecretary of the Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights, a member of the Government Negotiations Committee, Majed Fadhail, revealed that the International Committee of the Red Cross had postponed the deal for 3 additional days.
The International Committee of the International Red Cross (ICRC) was scheduled to conduct the prisoner exchange on April 11, corresponding to Ramadan 20. Fadayel stated that the postponement came at the request of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which informed them that it needed additional time for another 3 days. To complete some arrangements and interviews that must be carried out before the operation is carried out. He said in a tweet via his Twitter account today (Saturday): that due to the large numbers agreed to exchange them, and despite the great arrangements and efforts made by everyone, all the interviews have not yet been completed, pointing out that the Red Cross needs to complete the procedures in order to start in implementation. He added: There are still some arrangements and interviews that need to be done, and that the Red Cross has requested some additional time, estimated at 3 more days. The government official pointed out that the International Red Cross called on everyone to exercise restraint in order to complete its procedures and implement the process of exchanging prisoners and abductees.
Last month, the United Nations sponsored talks between the Yemeni government and the Houthi militia, including the exchange of 887 prisoners and abductees from both sides, including Major General Mahmoud al-Subaihi, Major General Nasser Hadi, Brigadier General Muhammad Muhammad Abdullah Saleh, Afash Tariq Saleh and 4 journalists sentenced to death.
The exchange process was scheduled to start on the 20th of Ramadan for a period of three days through 6 local and foreign airports, provided that the International Red Cross planes would transport about 706 Houthi prisoners, all of whom were fighters who were captured on the fronts, while 181 prisoners, including kidnapped civilians, would be transferred. militias to bargain with their families.
The supervisory committee for the implementation of the prisoner exchange agreement is chaired by the Office of the UN Special Envoy to Yemen, in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the membership of the parties to the conflict in Yemen.
The committee was formed in 2018 to support the parties to the conflict in fulfilling their obligations in accordance with the Stockholm Agreement with regard to the release of all prisoners, detainees, missing persons, arbitrarily kidnapped, forcibly disappeared persons, and those under house arrest for reasons related to the conflict in Yemen, without any exceptions or conditions.
The United Nations sponsored the first exchange deal between the legitimate government and the Houthi militia in October 2020, which included 1,065 detainees and captives, and represented the most prominent humanitarian breakthrough in the Yemeni crisis and in the stalled Stockholm Agreement since 2018.
Okaz (Jeddah) @okaz_online
