ZCZC
BFF-37
YEMEN-CONFLICT-PRISONERS
Yemen rebels free 290 prisoners in move hailed by UN, ICRC
SANAA, Sept 30, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Yemen’s Huthi rebels have freed 290
prisoners, including dozens of survivors from a Saudi-led coalition strike on
a detention centre earlier this month, the ICRC said Monday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross hailed the move as “a
positive step that will hopefully revive the release, transfer and
repatriation of conflict-related detainees” under a deal struck last year
between the rebels and Yemen’s government.
The Huthis recently announced the capture of hundreds of Yemeni loyalist
forces in an August offensive near the Saudi border, but they were not among
those freed on Monday.
The United Nations’ special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, welcomed
the initiative to “unilaterally release detainees”.
“I hope this step will lead to further initiatives that will facilitate
the exchange of all the conflict-related detainees as per the Stockholm
Agreement,” Griffiths said, referring to the 2018 accord.
He called on all parties to work together to speed up the release of
prisoners, saying they and their families had “endured profound pain and
suffering.”
In a statement, he urged the parties to meet at the “nearest opportunity”
to resume discussions on future exchanges.
The Huthis’ own announcement on the prisoner release said there were 350
in the group, including three Saudis.
“We have presented to the United Nations a unilateral initiative to
release 350 prisoners,” Abdel Kader Mortaza, the Huthi official in charge of
prisoner affairs, said at a press conference in Sanaa.
– ‘Break the deadlock’ –
Mortaza reiterated Huthi claims that they had taken prisoner more than
2,000 fighters, including Saudi soldiers, in the August offensive near the
southern Saudi region of Najran.
Footage aired by the Huthis on Sunday, which had been billed as showing
proof of the mass capture, was short on details.
A government source confirmed to AFP that 200 prisoners were killed in the
fighting, but said that the number of prisoners taken was less than the
Huthis claimed, estimating the number to be about 1,300 Yemeni soldiers.
Mortaza said the fighters were held in what he described as the rebels’
largest “operation to capture prisoners” and that they would be treated
“humanely”.
However, he described Monday’s release of prisoners as designed to “break
the deadlock that has prevailed for several months”.
“This initiative reasserts our seriousness and credibility when it comes
to the implementation of the (Sweden) agreement,” Mortaza told AFP.
“We urge the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red
Cross to press the other side into taking a similar step or give us the same
number of their prisoners in any future deal.”
Years of conflict in Yemen have killed tens of thousands of people, mostly
civilians.
Since the Saudi-led coalition intervened to back up the government in
2015, the fighting has plunged the country — the poorest in the Arab world –
– into what the UN calls the globe’s worst humanitarian crisis.
In early September, the coalition struck a former college in the western
city of Dhamar, used by the Huthis as a detention centre. The Red Cross said
over 100 people were killed.
Riyadh said the attack was aimed at a “legitimate military target” and
that the site was not on any no-strike list.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1955HRS