15,000 prisoners for swap, talks continue

Yemeni government and rebel representatives met in Jordan yesterday for a second day to thrash out the details of a major prisoner exchange, a UN source said. The swap, which could involve up to 15,000 detainees from both sides, was agreed in principle as a confidence-building measure ahead of peace talks in Sweden last month.

But the details were left to afterwards as UN mediators focused on brokering breakthrough truce deals for the aid lifeline port of Hodeida and the battleground third city of Taez. The talks in the Jordanian capital Amman come as international donors meet in Berlin to set up a fund to support the fledgeling peace process in Yemen. Representatives of the United Nations, which brokered the swap agreement, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which will supervise its implementation, are taking part in the Amman talks.

During the first day of talks on Wednesday, the warring parties met separately with the mediators and submitted lists of prisoners they want to see released. On Thursday, they were expected to meet face-to-face to hammer out the details of its implementation. The new meetings come after the UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously approved the deployment of up to 75 monitors to oversee the truce in Hodeida, which has largely held despite delays in the agreed withdrawal of combatants.