Majed Fadail, the head of the government delegation in the prisoners and detainees negotiations, confirmed that a new round of negotiations has begun today (Sunday) in the Omani capital, Muscat, between the Yemeni government and the Houthi group regarding prisoners and detainees. These talks are under the auspices of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Fadail added, according to the Xinhua News Agency, that the first session was held in the presence of sarhad fatah, the Deputy Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Yemen, representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the joint team of the Saudi-led Arab coalition.

Fadail explained that the main objective of this round is to discuss the complete release of all prisoners and abductees without discrimination based on the principle of "all for all." He emphasized that the government delegation is handling this humanitarian issue with full responsibility and commitment.

Fadail noted that the head of the government delegation highlighted in his opening remarks that the government team previously considered not participating in these negotiations due to the continued violations by the Houthis against innocent civilians and the expanded abductions, which included dozens of humanitarian and relief workers, including women, in Sana'a over the past weeks. However, the political leadership saw participation in this round of negotiations in Muscat as a valuable opportunity to stop these violations, leveraging the presence of regional and international mediators and the UN envoy’s office to immediately halt these grave abuses and secure the release of the recently abducted.

Fadail confirmed that the government delegation agrees that progress in this matter depends on uncovering the fate and securing the release of the politician Mohammed Qahtan, who has been forcibly disappeared for nine years without being allowed to contact his family.

It is noteworthy that the United Nations has sponsored a series of negotiation rounds between the Yemeni government and the Houthi group concerning prisoners and detainees throughout the years of the ongoing war since late 2014. However, these talks have been repeatedly delayed in recent times.

The last round of negotiations between the two sides took place in June of the previous year in Amman without reaching an agreement. This followed a round of negotiations in March in Switzerland, which led to a prisoner exchange in April involving the release of over 800 detainees from both the Houthis and the Yemeni government.