El Houthi offer Sudanese POWs in exchange for Saudi-, UAE-held prisoners

On Thursday, Beirut-based Al Masirah satellite news channel that operates under Houthi supervision announced that El Houthi group is ready to negotiate with Sudan over the exchange of prisoners of war through the International Committee of the Red Cross.

UK Reuters reported that the pro-Iranian satellite station in Yemen posted a tweet on social media attributed to a high ranking official of El Houthi group who is in charge of the prisoners of war affairs:

“We have informed the Sudanese authorities, through the International Committee of the Red Cross, that we have Sudanese prisoners of war and that we are ready to negotiate with them and make an exchange of Houthis held by Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates or their affiliated groups.”

Since 2015, Sudan has a large Rapid Support Forces (RSF) contingent in the war in Yemen, which is now part of the coalition forces led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Unofficial estimates say that the real number of Sudanese troops participating in the war in Yemen is close to 10,000 soldiers, mostly from the RSF – which is now formally included in the SAF, as agreed in the Constitutional Document in August.

As reported by Radio Dabanga in November last year, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) has denied claims by El Houthi group that more than 4,000 Sudanese soldiers have been killed since involvement in the Yemen war.

In a press conference in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Saturday, boradcast by Ida’at, Houthi military spokesman Brig Gen Yahya Saree said that the total losses of Sudanese government forces since the beginning of its participation in the war exceeds 8,000 dead and wounded, including 4,253 dead.

He said that the Saudi-United Arab Emirates coalition does not transfer the bodies of fallen Sudanese soldiers to their families.

“Baseless”

SAF spokesman Brig Gen Amer El Hasan reacted to the words of Saree by calling them “baseless” and reiterated that the Sudanese forces will not withdraw from Yemen until an official decision has been issued.

He explained that the withdrawal of 10,000 Sudanese soldiers from Yemen as recently reported by the Middle East Monitor, is inaccurate.

“Sudanese forces are deployed on all fronts in Yemen and their whereabouts cannot be disclosed,” he stated.