Government source: Houthi obstacles to the release of prisoners of legality and international efforts to overcome them
English - Wednesday 26 February 2020 الساعة 07:17 pm
Aden, Newsyemen
A Yemeni government source expected that the current consultations in Jordan between representatives of the legitimate government and representatives of the Houthi militia will lead to a final settlement of the lists of prisoners and kidnapped who will be released under the recent agreement, and they are
more than 1400 people from both sides.
"Asharq Al-Awsat" quoted the government source familiar with the progress of the negotiations as saying, "There is optimism that an endorsement of the names that will be released in a final list will be reached despite the ongoing Houthi obstacles in this aspect."
It explained that the facilitators of the discussions at the office of the international envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths are making continuous efforts to overcome points of disagreement over lists of names that the Houthi group is trying to manipulate.
The source did not specify a deadline for reaching the completion of the lists and agreeing to them, but he expected that to be reached soon after the differences over the names submitted by the two parties were overcome.
The legitimate government and the Houthi coup militia had reached an agreement in the Jordanian capital, Amman, which would constitute a partial breakthrough in the file of the exchange of prisoners and detainees, nearly a week after the resumption of consultations on this file.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Human Rights in the Yemeni government, member of the negotiating government team, Majed Fadail, confirmed that "the interim agreement would eventually lead to the release of all in exchange for all."
While the Yemeni Foreign Ministry, in a statement, valued the efforts of the UN envoy to Yemen and the International Committee of the Red Cross related to reaching a phased agreement to release the prisoners.
It emphasized that this is what the Yemeni government sought from the beginning, according to the principle of "all-for-all", considering that the new agreement is "a purely humanitarian step that must be implemented without delay in accordance with what was agreed upon in Jordan."
A joint statement between the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Office of the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General Martin Griffiths announced at the time that representatives of the legitimate government and the Houthi group had agreed to a detailed plan to complete the first large-scale official exchange of prisoners and detainees since the beginning of the conflict. The statement promised this agreement “a first step towards fulfilling the parties’ obligations to release all prisoners and detainees in the background of the conflict in accordance with the Stockholm Agreement. ”
Martin Griffiths, the UN Special Envoy to Yemen commented: "I urge the parties to expedite the implementation of the exchange process that they agreed to today ... progress has been very slow on this file so far, and the pain of thousands of people who are waiting to be reunited with their families and loved ones must end."
The UN envoy expressed his appreciation for the leadership of the parties for their engagement in the negotiations in good faith to alleviate the suffering of the prisoners and their families, and also expressed his gratitude to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for hosting this meeting.
The UN statement indicated that the two parties renewed their commitment to facilitate the communication of prisoners and detainees with their families, and the committee agreed to meet again at the end of March to discuss further exchanges.
It is noteworthy that the legitimate government was accusing the Houthi militia of deliberately obstructing a comprehensive agreement regarding the exchange of prisoners and detainees in accordance with the principle of "all for all".
It also accuses them of seeking to split this file and convert it from a humanitarian file into a file for political bargaining.
The UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths recently led a tour of the region and visited Sana'a to meet with the Houthi leaders. His visit coincided with the inauguration of the "Mercy Airplanes" bridge to transport Yemeni patients from incurable diseases for treatment abroad, before returning to Riyadh to meet the legitimate leaders and from there to the capital Amman.
While Griffiths earlier made statements calling for the resumption of consultations between the Houthi group and the government in terms of reaching a comprehensive agreement, these statements were opposed by the legitimate government, which adhered to the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement first before resuming any consultations.
