Yemen prisoner swap terms expected in coming days
If achieved it could open the way for more talks between rival parties
Aden: Yemen’s warring parties are expected to agree on the terms of a prisoner exchange in around 10 days, a representative of the internationally-recognised Yemeni government said on Wednesday.
Talks between the two sides took place in Jordan last week.
Both parties need to agree on lists of prisoners to be swapped.
“We expect that in 10 days time the final signing will have happened,” the head of the government delegation to the prisoner-exchange talks, Hadi Haig, told Reuters by telephone.
The United Nations is pushing for the exchange and a peace deal in Yemen’s main port, Hodeida.
That could open the way for more talks between the Iran-backed Al Houthi movement and the Saudi-backed government on ending the country’s civil war.
The swap was one of the least contentious confidence-building measures at December’s UN-sponsored peace talks in Sweden, held amid Western pressure to end the conflict.