The Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, Secretary-General Dr. Nayef Al Hajraf on Sunday welcomed the deal reached by the Yemeni government and Houthi group to immediately release a first group of 1,081 conflict-related detainees and prisoners.

In a press statement, Al Hajraf said that it is necessary to immediately put the deal in place and set free prisoners and detainees without any delay, leading up to freeing all prisoners and reunify them with their families.

The Secretary-General appreciated the efforts of the Supervisory Committee on the Implementation of the Prisoners' Exchange Agreement", represented by the Special Envoy for Yemen and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The prisoner swap is in line with the Stockholm agreement in 2018, to release all prisoners, detainees, missing persons, arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared persons, and those under house arrest.