UN welcomes major Yemen detainee release deal

The UN welcomes the deal between the Yemeni government and the Houthi group to release more than 1,600 detainees, an official said Thursday.

"We welcome a major breakthrough in efforts to secure the release of conflict-related detainees.

"The parties to the conflict in Yemen agreed to release more than 1,600 conflict-related detainees, the largest such release deal since the start of the conflict," deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters.

Haq said the agreement follows 14 weeks of intensive negotiations conducted under UN auspices in Jordan.

"We continue to call for the release of all those arbitrarily detained by the Houthis, including personnel from the UN non-governmental organizations, civil society and diplomatic missions, as well as their families," he said.

Yemen's government said Thursday that it signed the "largest" prisoner exchange deal with the Houthi group, involving 1,728 detainees from both sides.

Yemen has largely observed a period of reduced violence since April 2022 following a war that began more than 11 years ago between government forces and Houthi fighters, who have controlled several provinces and cities, including the capital, Sanaa, since September 2014.

The war has devastated much of Yemen's infrastructure and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, amid UN efforts to advance a peace process.