CAIRO: The United Nations said Yemens warring sides agreed Sunday to exchange more than 1,000 prisoners, marking the first phase of a release plan reached earlier this year.
The U.N. mission in Yemen said the internationally recognized government that was driven from the capital six years ago and the Houthi rebels agreed to immediately release a first group of 1,081 conflict-related detainees and prisoners, in accordance with the lists of agreed-upon names.
The prisoner swap deal was seen as a breakthrough during 2018 peace talks in Sweden. Both parties agreed then to several confidence-building measures, including a cease-fire in the strategic port city of Hodeida. Implementation of the tentative peace plan, however, stumbled amid ongoing military offensives and distrust between the two sides.
The conflict in the…