The coalition welcomes the prisoner exchange agreement between the government and the Houthis
English - Monday 28 September 2020 الساعة 09:53 am
NewsYemen, Riyadh:
The official spokesman for the Arab coalition forces, Colonel Turki Al-Maliki, said that the political leaders of the coalition countries pay wide attention to the prisoners' file, and consider it an attempt to build confidence between the Yemeni parties, welcoming the prisoner exchange agreement between the legitimate government and the Houthis.
Al-Maliki said in a press conference, this evening, Sunday, that the Yemeni government will release 681 people in exchange for the Houthi militia’s release of 400 prisoners, including 15 Saudi soldiers and 4 Sudanese, indicating that those who will be released are among the military.
The coalition spokesman considered the prisoner exchange agreement an extension of the Stockholm Agreement, noting that the coalition views the agreement positively and that there is a desire to implement the Stockholm Agreement.
He stressed that the prisoner exchange file is purely humanitarian, and that the aim of the prisoner exchange initiatives is to build a solid ground for the Yemenis to dialogue and reach a political solution.
He said that the coalition is working to release all prisoners and detainees, and that one of its top priorities is to recover the prisoners as soon as possible.
Al-Maliki pointed out that the Red Cross will oversee the prisoner exchange process, calling on the Houthi militia not to undermine the efforts of the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths.
The coalition spokesman implicitly warned of the escalation in Marib and urged the Houthis to engage positively with the envoy in the peace process, brandishing a paper classifying the group as a terrorist group if it continued with its political and military approach.
