GRIFFITHS ANNOUNCES YEMEN AGREEMENT ON FIRST PHASE OF PRISONER SWAP DEAL

Mon 17 February 2020:

Both sides of the conflict in Yemen agreed on a detailed plan to complete the first phase of a large-scale exchange of prisoners, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths said in a statement.

The announcement of the deal came after a seven-day meeting between rival sides of the Yemeni conflict in the Jordanian capital Amman.

“I urge the parties to move forward with the exchange they agreed on today with the utmost sense of urgency. Progress has been too slow on this front. The pain of the thousands awaiting reunion with their loved ones must end,” Griffiths said in a statement.

“Today the parties showed us that even with the growing challenges on the ground, the confidence they have been building can still yield positive results.”

Both parties on the opposite sides of the Yemeni conflict had agreed to exchange some 15,000 detainees as part of a UN-mediated deal initially brokered in Sweden in 2018 in what has come to be known as the “Stockholm Agreement.”

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!