Yemen foes agree mechanism for new prisoner swap: UN

The warring parties in Yemen have reached an understanding on the arrangements for an elusive exchange of prisoners agreed in principle six years ago, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

The progress came in talks in neutral Oman between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and the Iran-backed Huthi rebels who control Sanaa and much of the Red Sea coast.

"The parties have reached an understanding about arrangements to release conflict-related detainees," the office of UN special envoy Hans Grundberg said.

Noting a "positive and constructive atmosphere" in the talks so far, it underlined the "importance of finalising these understandings responsibly to achieve tangible results towards releasing conflict-related detainees".

It reminded the belligerents of their "obligations under the Stockholm agreement" of 2018 which called for the release of all prisoners held in connection with their decade-old war.

A surprise reconciliation deal between the warring parties' main foreign patrons, Riyadh and Tehran, in early 2023 saw nearly 900 prisoners released in April that year amid a renewed push for an end to the war.

But those peace hopes have been badly dented by the Huthis' launch of a campaign of attacks against Red Sea shipping last November that has triggered military intervention by Britain and the United States.

The rebels say their missile and drone strikes have targeted Israel-linked vessels in support of their Palestinian ally Hamas.

But their campaign has exacted a major toll on the cost of moving cargo along one of the world's busiest trade routes with knock-on effects for the global economy.

Grundberg's office said that Mohamed Qahtan, a prominent Sunni Islamist leader held by the Shiite Huthis since 2015, was one of the prisoners who was expected to be released in the exchange.

Huthi negotiator Abdelkader al-Murtada confirmed the rebels had agreed to release Qahtan in exchange for 50 prisoners held by the government.

The conflict in Yemen has killed hundreds of thousands of people directly or indirectly and left large numbers of prisoners of war on both sides.