UNITED NATIONS — Yemen’s Houthi rebels could release a political leader with ties to the internationally recognized government who has been held captive for nearly a decade, under a preliminary prisoner swap announced by the United Nations on Monday.
According to the United Nations, Mohamed Qahtan is the leader of the Sunni Islamist party Islah, which has ties to the Saudi-backed government. He has been held incommunicado by the Iran-backed Houthis since 2015.
The office of UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg held a meeting with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Oman over the weekend to discuss a prisoner swap in line with the 2018 Stockholm Agreement, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
The two Yemeni sides agreed to meet to discuss the final list of those released and details of Qahtan’s release, Dujarric said, without providing details of the possible agreement.
Qahtan’s release has been a point of contention for years, Dujarric said.
In addition to Qahtan, the Houthi rebels have at least 45 Yemeni workers arrested from UN agencies, diplomatic missions, private companies and other organizations.
Grundberg urged the parties to agree to more releases and also reiterated a demand for the immediate and unconditional release of UN personnel, aid workers and others trapped in the Houthis-held capital Sanaa who remain incommunicado, Dujarric said.
At a meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday, US Deputy Ambassador Stephanie Sullivan called for the immediate release of the detainees.
“The detention of UN and NGO personnel has a direct and negative impact on the ability of these organisations to provide humanitarian assistance,” she said.
Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since 2014, when the Houthis seized much of northern Yemen and forced the internationally recognized government to flee Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition stepped in the following year to support government forces, and over time the conflict morphed into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The war has claimed more than 150,000 lives, including combatants and civilians, creating one of the largest wars in the world. the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.
Since November the Houthis have attacked shipping in nearby waters, saying they want to pressure Israel to stop the war in Gaza. The Houthis have attacked more than 60 ships with rockets and droneskilling a total of four sailors. A US-led air campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say.
