Riyadh (Debriefer) - The Yemeni UN-recognized government on Saturday announced failure of the recent Jordan-hosted negotiations on prisoner swap with the Houthi group.
The US administration's decision to delist the Houthis as a terrorist group was behind the talks abortion, spokesman for the Yemeni government said in press statements.
After removing their group from terror list, the Houthi negotiating team returned to obduracy, putting unachievable conditions that led prisoner talks to fail, Rjih Badi added.
"Amman negotiations on prisoner swap went smoothly prior to removing the movement from terror list, leading to talks collapse," he said.
The US move emboldened the Houthis to carry out military operations in Marib and target civilian facilities in Saudi Arabia, Badi added, with no sign for "new round of talks amid the Houthi serious escalation... They don't understand peace language."
The two parties exchanged names and agreed on some of them, but deep disputes over some others obstructed final deal, firsthand sources said.
Disputes concentrated on a number of names, including the four reporters sentenced by a Houthi court to death last April, as the group says they were jailed over criminal cases, the sources added.
On the 15th and 16th of last October, the International Committee of Red Cross facilitated the largest prisoner swap between the two rivals since the war outbreak.
The swap saw 1,056 captives and detainees released from both sides, as part of a first phase that was said then to be followed by other phases.
