Yemen's Ansarullah rejects reports of prisoner swap deal

A senior official from Yemen's Ansarullah movement has rejected reports of a major prisoner swap deal between warring parties during ongoing UN-brokered talks in Kuwait.

The denial came after some media reports said that Ansarullah representatives and delegates loyal to Saudi-backed resigned president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi had reached a preliminary agreement to release half of the prisoners held by both sides within 20 days.

Nasir Baqiz Quoz, a senior member of Ansarullah delegation, told Lebanon's al-Ahd news network that only some proposals about a prisoner swap were discussed at a meeting of the joint working group on detainees formed by UN special envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

Mane al-Matari, who heads Hadi delegation to the talks, had earlier said, "It was agreed during the meeting to release 50 percent of the prisoners and detainees within the next 20 days.”

Sources close to Hadi camp had said that the two sides will meet again on Wednesday to finalize the mechanism on how and when the exchange will take place.

Yemen's warring parties resumed face-to-face talks on Monday following a two-day interruption after an appeal by the UN envoy. The groups have discussed key issues on political and security matters and the release of detainees.

The peace talks on Yemen, which began on April 21 in Kuwait City, have failed to establish peace as delegations trade accusations of violation of ceasefire that took effect on April 11.

Houthi Ansarullah movement has accused Saudi Arabia and its mercenaries of constantly violating the truce agreement across the country.

Ansarullah spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam in a Twitter post on Thursday accused the Hadi camp of blocking UN-brokered Yemen peace talks in Kuwait.

Ansarullah leader Abdel Malek al-Houthi recently reiterated that a political solution to the Yemen conflict is close at hand, but the obstinacy of the invading countries is an impediment to that goal.

UN envoy to Yemen has called on the warring parties to “make concessions in order to strike a comprehensive peaceful solution” to the conflict.

Yemen has seen under almost daily military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March 2015. More than 9,500 people have been killed in Saudi airstrikes during 13 months of Riyadh’s military campaign against the impoverished Arab country.

There has been mounting international pressure to bring an end to the Saudi war in Yemen, which has killed more than 9,400 people and displaced 2.8 million since March last year.

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