On board three planes on the tarmac at Sanaa airport in Yemen, hundreds of Houthi rebels were greeted on the red carpet, with great fanfare, by a marching band and an aeropage of political and military dignitaries on Thursday 15 October. At the same time, planes were landing in Seyoun, in the south-east, in the government zone, and in Abha, in Saudi Arabia. The Riyadh-backed Yemeni government and Houthi rebels have started an exchange of 1,081 prisoners, “The largest since the start of the conflict”, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), prime contractor for this operation which is due to end on Friday.
“The operation (…) shows once again that peaceful dialogue can yield results ”, welcomed the United Nations envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths. The result of an agreement concluded at the end of September in Switzerland under the aegis of the UN, this exchange should allow the release of “681 rebels and 400 members of government (and allied) forces”, then specified a member of the government delegation. It is the first sign of progress in the process initiated to find a political settlement in Yemen, where the government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, supported by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, and the Houthis, have been clashing since 2014, supported by Iran.
“I reiterate my call to the parties for the immediate and unconditional release of all civilians arbitrarily detained, including journalists and political prisoners,” Mr Griffiths continued. This exchange indeed falls short of the commitments made by the belligerents during peace negotiations in Sweden in 2018, in particular the exchange of 15,000 detainees. “There have since been exchanges of a few dozen prisoners through local actors, but nothing of this magnitude. There are many civilians in the hands of the Houthis, who control the towns and imprison their political opponents ”, explains Abdulghani Al-Iryani of the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies.
Serious humanitarian crisis
“Reaching this agreement took a long time because the prisoners are seen by each party as a bargaining chip to obtain from the opposing party concessions on other issues where they find it difficult to compromise”, analysis Peter Salisbury of the International Crisis Group (ICG). Four prominent loyalist figures, including President Hadi’s brother General Nasser Mansour Hadi, held by Houthi rebels, do not appear to be part of the exchange. Fifteen Saudis and four Sudanese, who were fighting in the military coalition led by Riyadh, have been released. According to the ICG expert, “Saudi Arabia gave the final impetus and pushed the Yemeni government to an agreement because it wanted to release these prisoners.”
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