March 21 (UPI) — The warring sides in Yemen’s practically decade-old battle have agreed to a prisoner swap involving practically 900 detainees, officers mentioned, as hopes rise that the continuing truce might finally result in an finish of the conflict.

The prisoner change was introduced Monday in Switzerland by the United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grunberg and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

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The swap includes 887 conflict-related detainees, although officers citing the delicate nature of the scenario wouldn’t state what number of have been being launched by both the Iran-backed Houthi rebels or the internationally acknowledged authorities of Yemen.

“Today, hundreds of Yemeni families can look forward to reuniting with their loved ones,” Grunberg mentioned throughout a press conference.

The announcement comes because the grim nine-year anniversary for the reason that conflict started in September 2014 when Shiite Houthi rebels seized management of Yemen’s capital metropolis of Sanaa nears.

Since the beginning of the battle, Yemen has been devastated. The United Nations has lengthy described the nation because the world’s worst humanitarian battle as more than 20 million of its some 33 million individuals are in want of help. Millions have been internally displaced and greater than 16 million undergo from starvation, together with 5 million dealing with famine.

However, the jail swap occurred amid a virtually yearlong that truce that was first agreed to in April of final yr and as hopes climb that additional agreements, such because the one inked Monday, might result in an official finish to the conflict.

The prisoner swap on Monday was introduced on the completion of a 10-day assembly of the supervisory committee on the implementation of the detainee’s change settlement of the Stockholm Agreement.

Signed in December of 2018, the Stockholm Agreement consists of three parts the warring sides dedicated to engaged on, together with the creation of a prisoner change mechanism.

Monday’s announcement ended the jail swap committee’s seventh assembly with plans for the officers to reconvene in May to debate extra releases, the United Nations mentioned.

Grunberg added that the 2 sides additionally dedicated to joint visits of one another’s detention amenities.

“For the one’s knowing conflict, for the one’s knowing Yemen, they know how important it is for the families and for the people of Yemen,” Fabrizio Carboni, the regional director for the worldwide Committee of the Red Cross, advised reporters throughout a press convention on the importance of Monday’s announcement

“It’s an expression of hope, it’s an expression of humanity and it indicates the way ahead for all parties to the conflict.”

The launch of the prisoners has not but occurred, and Carboni mentioned his group stands able to work as an middleman to make sure the detainees are conscious of what’s occurring and that they’re able to return to their houses.

“Obviously to do this work, the ICRC teams will need free and unfettered access to the detainees, especially in the coming days and weeks so that we can conduct interviews in private,” he mentioned. “This allows us to gather the informed consent to be transferred and identify any special needs that they have.”

There is extra work to do and additional negotiations are have to safe the discharge of extra detainees, he mentioned.

The White House on Monday mentioned it welcomes the announcement of the prisoner swap.

“This important step builds on the positive environment created by a truce in Yemen that has effectively stopped the fighting for the past 11 months,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson mentioned in a statement. “Over the previous yr and because of lively and chronic U.S. diplomacy, Yemen has seen the bottom degree of violence for the reason that conflict started over a decade in the past.

“We remain committed to building on this work to advance a durable resolution to the conflict.”

The two sides have exchanged prisoners earlier than with 1,056 exchanged in 2020 and 117 in May.

U.N. officers didn’t say what number of detainees stay jailed by the warring sides.