Griffiths Urges Swift Release of Detainees at Yemeni Prisoner Swap Talks

UN Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths- Reuters
UN Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths- Reuters
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Griffiths Urges Swift Release of Detainees at Yemeni Prisoner Swap Talks

UN Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths- Reuters
UN Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths- Reuters

Yemeni warring parties have launched prisoner swap talks in Geneva with Iran-backed Houthis including their self-proclaimed Central Bank Governor Hashim Ismail Ali Ahmed as part of their negotiating delegation.

Delegates from Yemen’s internationally recognized government sat down in Geneva with their rivals for talks co-chaired by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). But Ahmed’s presence at the talks spurred controversy among attendees.

Well-informed sources tied the Sanaa-based governor’s attendance to the ongoing financial crisis Houthis are experiencing. Yemeni activists and researchers have cast many doubts over Ahmed accompanying the Houthi delegation.

“It is really strange for a Houthi leader who is posed as a central bank governor to partake in this type of conversation that is far from economic,” Yemeni writer and political analyst Hamdan al-Alyi told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Alyi explained that Ahmed’s presence at the talks is evidence to claims that Houthis are looking to exploit the UN and international organizations to carry out their personal political and economic agendas.

He also said it is an attempt by Houthis to break out of their isolation and get rid of their labeling as coupists by the international community.

UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, for his part, tweeted his hopes for the Yemeni parties to "release detainees swiftly" and "bring relief to thousands of Yemeni families."

Yemeni political analyst Lutfi Nomaan, in statements to Asharq Al-Awsat, confirmed that resuming prisoner swap talks is a positive indicator for implementing an agreement that was put on ice due to the coronavirus.

“There is no doubt that moving this humanitarian issue sends a positive sign in the implementation of an agreement that was postponed after a long interruption imposed by the pandemic,” Nomaan said.

A deal to trade 15,000 prisoners was considered a breakthrough during 2018 peace talks in Sweden. The negotiations produced a sequence of confidence-building measures, including a cease-fire in the strategic port city of Hodeidah. But ongoing military offensives across the country and deep-seated mutual distrust has repeatedly delayed the exchange.

Yara Khawaja, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Yemen, said she welcomed the negotiations “for the sake of the families waiting for loved ones to return home.”

“It’s in the hands of the parties to the conflict to bring long-lasting positive change,” she added.

The office of the UN envoy said it was unclear how long the Geneva talks would take.



Lebanon Begins Removing Palestinian Arms Outside of Refugee Camps

The army enters a position of a Palestinian group. (Lebanese Army)
The army enters a position of a Palestinian group. (Lebanese Army)
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Lebanon Begins Removing Palestinian Arms Outside of Refugee Camps

The army enters a position of a Palestinian group. (Lebanese Army)
The army enters a position of a Palestinian group. (Lebanese Army)

Lebanon kicked off on Saturday the process of removing weapons in possession of Palestinian factions outside of their refugee camps.

The arms are mainly held by groups allied with the ousted Syrian regime that were based in several areas in the Bekaa, South, Beirut and the border with Syria.

The Lebanese army announced on Saturday that it had taken over three military positions that were affiliated with two Palestinian factions that were close to Bashar al-Assad's former regime.

Two of the positions are in the eastern and western Bekaa and belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command. The third, in Rashaya, belonged to the Fatah al-Intifada group.

A security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the army intelligence has been working on this issue for some time now and was close to completely resolving it.

The army said it had seized a large number of weapons and ammunition, as well as military gear.

The removal of the weapons outside state control is part of the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hezbollah and which calls for dismantling all non-licensed military facilities that manufacture weapons in Lebanon.

The agreement also calls for removing all unlicensed weapons starting from regions south of the Litani River.

A similar agreement for the removal of Palestinian weapons was reached in March 2006, but it was never implemented.

A Lebanese security source, however, said that the latest progress in removing the Palestinian weapons has nothing to do with the ceasefire. Rather, it is related to the collapse of Assad's regime.

These factions were loyal to the regime, and they received funding and equipment from it, the source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Hisham Debsi, the Director of the Tatweer Center for Studies, said the positions the army has taken over are tied to factions that are affiliated with Syrian security agencies.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the army should have been able to take over these locations as soon as United Nations Security Council resolution 1559 was issued in 2004.

The Palestinian Authority at the time agreed to the handover of weapons outside and inside refugee camps, but Hezbollah objected to the move and said it needed to be discussed at a dialogue among Lebanese political powers, Debsi went on to say.

At the dialogue, Hezbollah agreed to the removal of weapons inside and outside the camps, but it later thwarted the plan, he added.

The current removal of arms is tied to the implementation of resolution 1701 and others, notably 1559. It is also directly connected to the sudden and dramatic toppling of the Assad regime, he explained.

The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Syria’s interim rulers, had issued orders for Palestinian groups affiliated with the regime to lay down their arms. “These factions, which had raised the Palestinian flag and done nothing but harm the Palestinian and Lebanese people, no longer have their regional and Lebanese backers,” so they had no choice but to yield to the orders, Debsi said.

The conditions are ripe for the Lebanese state to impose its sovereignty, through the army, across all its territories and end the presence of any Palestinian armed groups outside the refugee camps, he stressed.

Moreover, the state has the right to impose its authority over the camps and remove the weapons there, he remarked.

At the moment, the removal of Palestinian weapons does not appear to be a precursor to Hezbollah laying down its weapons in areas north of the Litani.

Such a move demands a “major political decision that is off the table at the moment,” said the sources.