SANAA -- Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al- Qerbi said Sunday that the United States will repatriate Yemeni detainees from Guantanamo Bay in groups.

"The U.S. authorities will transfer Yemeni detainees from Guantanamo prison to Yemen in groups," al-Qerbi said in a statement carried by the Yemeni defence ministry's website.

"We will start to make contact with the U.S. authorities to prepare for receiving the Yemenis held at Guantanamo," he said.

On Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama pledged to lift the restrictions on detainee transfers from the U.S. military base and repatriate Yemeni prisoners.

The Yemeni government had repeatedly demanded the U.S. authorities to hand over Yemeni citizens detained in Guantanamo. It said that it has already prepared a special program to integrate the returning detainees into the Yemeni society.

About 84 Yemenis have been held at the U.S. military detention for more than a decade without trial.