Shaking their fists or praying on the airport tarmac, prisoners of war released Friday in Yemen let their joy burst before hugging their relieved loved ones.
More than 300 detainees have been freed on the first day of a major prisoner swap between enemy camps that have been clashing for more than eight years: on the one hand, Houthi rebels close to Iran, who control the capital Sanaa , and on the other, the government supported by Saudi Arabia, sitting in Aden (south).
On the tarmac of Sanaa airport, hundreds of relatives of prisoners approach the plane which has just landed, their eyes riveted on the door, in the hope of seeing their sons, brothers or fathers.
When the detainees get off the plane, children throw them rice and rose petals to celebrate their return.
“I feel the same as everyone here,” Yahia Abou Korra told AFP, rejoicing like the others to finally see their families reunited for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month. For him, the party is “double”.
At the end of March, at the start of Ramadan, the government and the rebels had reached an agreement in Bern, Switzerland, to exchange nearly 900 prisoners. The last operation of this magnitude dates back to October 2020, when more than 1,000 detainees were released.
The new operation, overseen by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), comes amid regional appeasement, with Saudi Arabia and Iran moving closer together after years of diplomatic chill and opposition in various conflicts in the region.
A Saudi delegation left Sanaa on Thursday on a “preliminary agreement” for a truce with the rebels, according to the latter, who described the negotiations as “positive”.
In Aden, thousands of families also gathered at the airport to welcome the prisoners who had arrived from Sanaa after being freed by the rebels.
Father of a detainee, Nasser Al-Dhalei speaks of “indescribable feelings”. “Great joy has spread throughout Yemeni society with the release of political and war prisoners,” he told AFP.
Among these detainees, Salim Saleh Al-Jamzi was released after spending three years and eight months in rebel jails, saying he suffered in particular from “torture, lack of food”. “I feel immense joy,” he said, while asking “God to release (…) all the other prisoners”.
“Today, they (the prisoners) (…) come back to life”, rejoices close to him his father Saleh Al-Jamzi.
Earlier in the day, under the supervision of government authorities, large white buses arrived at the airport carrying Houthi prisoners in traditional dresses and turbans, carrying small backpacks or a few belongings, before boarding. on the plane that took them to Sanaa.
Some inmates helped the older and weaker ones down, some of them in wheelchairs.
Among the released rebel fighters, Hamid Hussein made a point of “thanking God for this joy”. But, if necessary, for lack of a truce or progress, he said he was ready to “return to the front”.
The war in Yemen, which started more than eight years ago, has caused one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced, in a context of epidemics, lack of drinking water and acute hunger. More than three quarters of the population depend on international aid, which nevertheless continues to decline.
14/04/2023 20:48:34 — Sanaa (AFP) © 2023 AFP
