Yemen Monitor / Marib / Newsroom:
Hassan Al-Qubaissi, a member of the Yemeni government’s negotiating delegation, revealed that intensive efforts are underway to resume negotiations on the exchange of prisoners and detainees with the Houthi group during the current week. He affirmed that the commitment to the final deadline for concluding this file on January 27 remains in place, despite the current temporary pause.
In a statement to Yemen Monitor, Al-Qubaissi explained that the negotiation track is currently going through a phase of “temporary suspension” due to overlapping issues. He said he preferred not to delve into their technical or political details through the media at this time, in order to ensure the success of the ongoing efforts.
Al-Qubaissi pointed to serious promises to resume negotiating sessions in the coming days, stressing that the government team is still working within the previously agreed timeline.
Speaking to Yemen Monitor, Al-Qubaissi said:
“We are still within the agreed time frame. It was agreed that this file would be concluded by January 27. If negotiations resume this week, there will be sufficient time to finalize the remaining outstanding issues and close the file definitively.”
These remarks come amid widespread public anticipation of the outcomes of the negotiation rounds, alongside international and UN pressure to end the suffering of thousands of detainees and forcibly disappeared persons on both sides, and to turn this humanitarian file into an entry point for building confidence in the path toward a comprehensive political settlement.
The Yemeni government and the Houthis had previously agreed that the first phase of the prisoner and detainee exchange would include 2,900 individuals, foremost among them prominent Yemeni politician Mohammed Qahtan.
