A Houthi (Ansarallah) delegation flew out of Sanaa Tuesday (December 4th) accompanied by a UN peace envoy, heading for high-stakes talks in Sweden with the government aimed at ending the country's devastating war, AFP reported.
The departure of the Iran-backed Houthis on a Kuwaiti plane followed a prisoner swap deal and the evacuation of 50 wounded Houthi fighters for treatment in Oman in a major boost to peace efforts.
The delegation for the first peace talks since 2016 was accompanied by UN envoy Martin Griffiths, an airport source said.
A government team, headed by Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani, was expected in Sweden on Wednesday.
Mohammed Abdelsalam, heading the 12-member Houthi team, tweeted that the Houthis "will spare no effort to make a success of the talks to restore peace and end the aggression".
Although no date has been announced for the start of the talks, Yemeni government sources say they could get under way on Thursday.
The agreement to exchange hundreds of detainees was welcomed by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which will oversee the swap after the first round of planned peace talks in Sweden.
"This is one step in the right direction towards the building of mutual trust among Yemeni communities," ICRC spokeswoman Mirella Hodeib said.
The UAE, another key backer of the government, said the planned talks offered a "critical opportunity" to end nearly four years of war.
Yemeni government official Hadi Haig told AFP that between 1,500 and 2,000 members of pro-government forces and between 1,000 and 1,500 Houthis would be released in the prisoner swap.
Houthi official Abdel Kader al-Murtadha confirmed the deal, adding that he hoped it would be "implemented without problem".
