Yemen’s Ansarullah, Saudi-led Forces Meet to Hammer out Major Prisoner Swap

The representatives of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement and the Saudi-led forces met in Jordan on Thursday for a second day to thrash out the details of a major prisoner exchange, a UN official said.

The swap, which could involve up to 15,000 detainees from both sides, was agreed in principle as a confidence-building measure ahead of peace talks in Sweden last month.

But the details were left for later as UN mediators focused on brokering breakthrough truce deals for the lifeline port of Hodeida and battleground third city Taez.

The talks in the Jordanian capital Amman come as international donors meet in Berlin to set up a fund to support the fledgling peace process in Yemen.

Representatives of the United Nations, which brokered the swap agreement, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which will supervise its implementation, are taking part in the Amman talks.

During a first day of talks on Wednesday, the two parties met separately with the mediators and submitted lists of prisoners they want to see released.

On Thursday, they were expected to meet face-to-face to hammer out the details of its implementation.

The new meetings come after the UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously approved the deployment of up to 75 monitors to oversee the truce in Hodeida, which has largely held despite delays in an agreed withdrawal of combatants.