Yemeni prisoners swap deal clinched

A deal was struck on Wednesday between the popular resistance in Yemen and the Houthi militants whereby the warring parties exchanged hundreds of prisoners in a move aimed at supporting U.N.-sponsored peace talks which resumed for a second day in Switzerland, but both sides accused the other of violating a ceasefire.

Sada Aden news website quoted sources at the resistance as saying that the prisoners swap took place under tribal mediation in Yafei area.

The sources said the Houthis released 260 resistance prisoners from Sanaa jails in exchange for releasing 350 Houthi elements held by the resistance.

A seven-day truce, timed to coincide with the peace talks, began in mid-day on Tuesday to halt fighting in nine months of civil war between the Iran-allied Houthis based in Yemen’s north and Saudi-backed southern and eastern fighters loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Officials from both sides said the prisoner swap would be one of the most positive signs yet in the civil war, which has killed almost 6,000 people and drawn in foreign powers.

Sources: MENA