UN-backed talks start in Jordan to discuss stalled Yemen prisoner exchange

United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, left, and International Committee of the Red Cross President Peter Maurer brief the during a new round of talks on a prisoners swap deal in Yemen. (Reuters)

• The two-day meeting aims to ‘finalize the list of prisoners and detainees to be released and exchanged’
• Yemen was plunged into war in 2014 when the Houthi militia captured the capital, Sanaa

AMMAN, Jordan: Yemen’s government and the Houthi militia are meeting in Jordan for talks on implementing a stalled prisoner exchange agreed upon in December.
The UN envoy Martin Griffiths said Tuesday the two-day meeting aims to “finalize the list of prisoners and detainees to be released and exchanged.”
A Red Cross official said Monday that the deal has been stalled because each side is demanding the release of more prisoners than the other claims to be holding.
Yemen was plunged into war in 2014 when the Houthis captured the capital, Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition intervened a year later, fighting alongside government troops.
The two sides met in December in Sweden, where they agreed on the prisoner exchange and a cease-fire in the port of Hodeidah, which has been marred by alleged violations.