Kuwait City: Yemen’s warring parties have pledged to free all child prisoners but failed to reach agreement on a wider release for the holy month of Ramadan, the UN envoy said on Monday.
“In the prisoners committee, an agreement was made on the unconditional release of children,” Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad said in a statement.
There was no immediate word on how many children are held prisoner by the Saudi-backed government or by Iran-backed Al Houthi militants and their allies.
The UN envoy had been trying to push the two sides to agree to release half of all their prisoners before Ramadan, which began on Monday.
After almost seven weeks of negotiations, the two sides have failed to make progress on any of the core issues in the UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait.
The rebels and their allies have held out against demands contained in a UN Security Council resolution for their surrender of heavy weaponry and withdrawal from areas, including the capital, which they have seized since 2014.
The government has resisted proposals for a unity administration with Al Houthis, fearing it would undermine the legitimacy of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
The UN envoy said that despite the lack of progress, both sides remained engaged in the talks, which would continue through Ramadan, when Muslims observe a daytime fast.
In the past few days, the talks have been overshadowed by indiscriminate Al Houthi shelling of the besieged government garrison in the southern city Taiz, which killed 17 civilians.
The UN envoy condemned the bombardment and urged both sides to respect a ceasefire that took effect on April 11.
“The attack against a crowded market in Taiz is unethical. We condemn the bloody incidents in Taiz despite the cessation of hostilities,” he said.
There have been no face-to-face meetings between the two sides over the past week. The UN envoy has met with the delegations separately in an effort to come up with bridging proposals.
Meanwhile in Aden, militants attacked the airport in the government-held city on Monday sparking a firefight in which at least one civilian was killed, a security source said.
Around 20 gunmen stormed the main entrance road to the airport in the city’s Khormaksar district, demanding the release of a fellow militant of Western origin who was detained late last month.
Airport guards repulsed the attack after a 90-minute gun battle, the source said, adding that the civilian was killed by a stray bullet.
The gunmen’s leader told security forces he was a close relative of the detained militant, a Western national of Algerian origin.
The detained Westerner was among seven suspected members of Daesh whose arrest was announced by the authorities in Aden on May 28.
Aden is the headquarters of Hadi’s government after Al Houthis took over the capital Sana’a and swathes of the north and centre of the country are held by Al Houthi militants.
Riyadh led an Arab military coalition in support of Hadi in March last year and the ensuing conflict has been exploited by Daesh and Al Qaida to expand their presence in the impoverished Arab nation.
In recent months, Saudi-led forces have taken action against the militants with US support, driving them out of several major southern cities they had overrun.
