Yemen’s internationally recognised government and the Houthi group have reached an agreement to free detainees, according to the United Nations, with officials from both sides putting the number at thousands.

In a statement on Tuesday, the UN envoy on Yemen Hans Grundberg said the prisoner swap deal came after nearly two weeks of talks in Muscat, the capital of Oman, a mediator in the conflict between the government and the Houthis that began in 2014.

Calling it a “positive and meaningful step”, Grundberg said the agreement will help to ease the suffering of detainees and their families across Yemen.

He added that its “effective implementation will require the continued engagement and cooperation of the parties, coordinated regional support and sustained efforts to build on this progress toward further releases”.

Abdulqader al-Mortada, an official with the Houthi delegation in Muscat, said in a statement on X that “we signed an agreement today with the other party to implement a large-scale prisoner exchange deal involving 1,700 of our prisoners in exchange for 1,200 of theirs, including seven Saudis and 23 Sudanese”.

Majed Fadhail, a member of the government delegation, said the new exchange would see “thousands” of war prisoners released, according to the AFP news agency.

Two of the seven Saudi nationals are air force pilots, Fadhail told AFP.

The war between the government and the Houthis, which has been largely frozen since 2022, has killed tens of thousands people and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

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According to the UN, nearly 20 million people across Yemen depend on aid to survive, while close to five million remain displaced.