The Daily Star
Yemen’s warring parties met Sunday for the fourth day of U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Sweden to try to hammer out details of a prisoner exchange, which could eventually include all prisoners held by both sides in the 4-year-old civil war.
The parties focused on the swap amid optimism on first steps toward a political dialogue.
Yemen’s conflict pits the Iran-backed Houthi rebels against the internationally recognized government supported by a U.S.-sponsored Arab coalition.
“We are progressing toward implementation, how to swiftly group together the prisoners,” Askar Zouail from the government delegation said. “The atmosphere is positive. And we are optimistic.
Speaking later at the venue, a castle north of Stockholm, the head of the Houthi delegation said a committee was discussing the swap and that the rebels were ready for the exchange, which would include rebel fighters he said are held at undisclosed locations abroad.
After signing the agreement, bodies of the dead should be identified.
“That will solve the problem of the missing,” Mohammad Abdel-Salam said.
The United Nations has long led a push to resolve the conflict but past attempts at constructive talks have led nowhere and officials have sought to downplay expectations from the current talks, focusing on achieving a framework for future talks toward a political settlement.
The war has killed tens of thousands and made Yemen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with 22 of its 29 million people in need of aid, according to the U.N.
The airport in rebel-held Sanaa has been closed since August 2016 by order of the Arab coalition, leaving the rebel-held north of Yemen heavily relying on the port of Hodeida, which is controlled by the Houthis, for delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid and fuel supplies.“Hodeida is the most difficult [issue] of all,” a U.N. source said, adding progress on the port was key to finding a solution to the conflict.
Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani said Saturday a full rebel withdrawal from Hodeida city and port were nonnegotiable to the Yemeni government.
The Arab coalition said Sunday it had issued 17 permits for vessels carrying foodstuffs and petroleum products destined for Yemeni ports.
At a security forum in Abu Dhabi, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Arabian Gulf Affairs Timothy Lenderking said the United States is supportive of the “good spirit of cooperation” observed at this stage in the talks, and hoped for concrete results to help reduce the pain inflicted on civilians.
“There’s a sense that what’s driving this is the concern about civilian casualties. That’s a responsibility on both sides in this conflict,” he said.
Also Sunday, a top leader of Yemen’s Houthi rebels called for an investigation after the Associated Press found evidence of extreme torture in Houthi-run prisons.
Thousands have been imprisoned by the Houthis during Yemen’s civil war. An AP investigation found some detainees were scorched with acid, forced to hang from their wrists for weeks at a time or had their faces smashed with batons. Mohammad Ali al-Houthi, head of the Supreme Revolutionary Council, said Sunday authorities should examine the AP report.
He said they should “deal with any of the incidents, if proved correct, in accordance with Yemeni law, [and act] against any of the people who committed them.” He says torture is “unforgivable” by Yemeni law and rules of faith.
