ADEN, Yemen, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's internationally recognized government has indefinitely postponed a planned prisoner exchange with the Houthi group, a government official told Xinhua on Friday.
"The prisoner exchange that was scheduled to take place in the coming hours has been postponed indefinitely due to the Houthi group's stalling," said the official from the government's Prisoners' Affairs Committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing what he described as delays by the Houthi side in implementing the agreement.
A military source aligned with government forces said the decision came amid mounting tribal opposition in southern Yemen.
In the southern port city of Aden, tribes and local communities had gathered to protest the planned release of Houthi detainees "convicted of terrorism-related offenses," including those accused of assassinating senior military commanders in the south, according to the source.
No immediate comment was available from the Houthi group.
The planned exchange was part of an agreement reached on May 14 after months of UN-sponsored negotiations in Jordan.
The agreement covered about 1,750 detainees from both sides and was described by government negotiators as the largest prisoner swap since the conflict began. It was intended to serve as the first phase of a broader "all-for-all" exchange, with implementation to be coordinated by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Yemen has been gripped by conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized control of the capital, Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year in support of the internationally recognized government.
A UN-mediated truce between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, brokered in April 2022, lasted six months before expiring, though a de facto ceasefire has largely held despite sporadic clashes.
The last major UN-mediated prisoner exchange saw around 900 detainees freed in 2023. Enditem
