ADEN, Yemen, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- The delegations representing the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels announced Tuesday their readiness to implement a mass prisoner swap deal agreed upon at the peace talks sponsored by the United Nations in Sweden.
Sources confirmed to Xinhua that the two-warring sides exchanged updated lists containing the names of thousands of prisoners and started preparations for implementing the deal.
Yemen's Foreign Minister Khaled Yamani who is leading the government's negotiating team announced in Twitter that a real progress was achieved in the issue of swapping the prisoners.
"We presented a list of 8,576 names of workers, political activists, youth, teachers, students, media, children, tribal figures, businessmen, jurists, women and doctors, arbitrarily detained and forcibly hidden in the Houthi prisons," the foreign minister said.
The Yemeni minister mentioned no further details about the deal but confirmed that the lists are open, endless and agreed to include any additions.
On the other side, the Houthis submitted a list that contained information about more than 7,500 of their prisoners held by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.
A government source said that some neighboring countries like Oman will help in providing airplanes to airlift detainees between the Houthi-controlled Sanaa and the government-controlled Sayun city.
The time of exchanging the prisoners was not specified but the government source said that the handover operation will be implemented during the next weeks.
The United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths said during a press conference that progress was achieved in the consultations in Sweden.
Tangible agreements will be announced by the end of this round, the UN envoy said, adding that early next year is the target date for the next round of consultations between the two warring sides.
Peace talks between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels, coordinated by the UN, kickstarted in Sweden last Thursday. The talks, held at Johannesburg Castle, about 60 km north of Stockholm, are expected to last for about a week, depending on the consultation's progress.
"The two parties are engaged in a serious and constructive way in discussing the details of confidence building measures, the reduction of violence, and the framework for negotiations. We hope we will achieve progress during this round of consultations," said Griffiths, commending on Saturday the positive spirit in the talks.
Griffiths also reiterated the importance of continued restraint on the ground and called on the two parties to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law. "We are working to the background of a very fragile situation in Yemen. We hope that de-escalation will be maintained on different frontlines, to give a chance for progress to be achieved on the political consultations."
