Yemeni gov’t accuses Houthi militias of stalling prisoner swap process
Undersecretary of Hodeidah, Waleed al-Qoudaimi, said on
Friday that the Houthi militias are obstructing and seeking to block the
previously signed prisoner swap agreement, which was announced in the Sweden
talks that took place early December.
A source in the legitimate government’s delegation who are
involved in the process of the prisoner swap said that the militias denied the
existence of nearly 3,000 detainees in its prisons, whose names were submitted
by the government delegation in Sweden as part of the swap deal concluded in
Stockholm.
The source added that the Houthis are trying to “stall the
process, and avoid fulfilling their obligations in this file which is the one
of the most important pillars of the agreement.”
The source also said that the Houthis forcefully disappeared
Yemeni politician Muhammad Qahtan and military commander Faisal Rajab, “leaving
their fate unknown as mere names on the list.”
Qoudaimi had earlier announced that the head of the UN
monitoring team was waiting for a response on his proposal pertaining to the
mechanism of the Houthi withdrawal from Hodeidah’s city and port. Its deadline
is Tuesday.
