Hanish Islands conflict

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Hanish Islands conflict
partof=


caption=Map of the Hanish islands
date=15 December 1995–17 December 1995
place=Greater Hanish, Zukur-Hanish archipelago
casus=ownership of the Zukur-Hanish archipelago
territory=the Permanent Court of Arbitration eventually determined that the archipelago belonged to Yemen
result=Eritrean occupation of the island
combatant1=flag|Eritrea
combatant2=flag|Yemen
commander1=
commander2=
strength1="unknown"
strength2="unknown"
casualties1=3-12 killed
casualties2=15 killed
196 captured
17 civilians taken prisoner
casualties3=
notes=The Hanish Islands conflict [Other names:
*Eritrean-Yemeni border conflict (Air University Library Publications)
* Hanish Islands dispute (Schofield (cited by Dzurek))
* Eritrea-Yemen dispute (Dzurek)
* Hanish Islands crisis (Wertheim. [http://www.google.co.uk/books?id=TJunjRvplU4C&pg=PA1033&dq=%22Hanish+Islands+crisis%22&lr=&sig=ACfU3U27Q-9OeX7mCy32x4WnKQhoN4HkBg p. 1033] )
* Odd War (Younis)
*Whore wars (The Economist)] was a dispute between Yemen and Eritrea over the island of Greater Hanish in the Red Sea, one of the largest in the then disputed Zukur-Hanish archipelago. Fighting took place over three days from 15 December to 17 December 1995. In 1998 the Permanent Court of Arbitration determined that the archipelago belonged to Yemen.

Armed conflict

Reports vary on the number killed in action; between three and twelve members of the Eritrean Defence Forces were believed to have been killed while fifteen Yemeni soldiers were believed to have been killed. Between 185 and 196 Yemeni prisoners of war (soldiers) and 17 civilians were captured by the Eritreans. The prisoners were repatriated a few weeks later at the end of December to Yemen. [Staff. [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/hanish.htm |title=El Salvador Civil War] , [http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/index.html globalsecurity.org] , Retrieved 2006-08-25] During the fighting a passing Russian merchant ship was hit and damaged in mistake for a Yemeni naval vessel.

The archipelago is on the southern side of the Red Sea near Bab-el-Mandeb (Mouth of the Red Sea). The Red Sea is about 30 miles (50 km) wide at this point. Since the British occupation of Aden the islands had generally been regarded as part of Yemen although they were on the southern, Eritrean, side of the straits.

After being granted independence and membership of the United Nations, the new Eritrean government had started negotiations with Yemen over the status of the archipelago. Two rounds of talks had taken place before the invasion:

Greater Hanish (or "Hanish al-Kabir") is one of three main islands in an archipelago, and until 1995 was inhabited only by a handful of Yemeni fishermen. In 1995 German company, under Yemeni auspices, began building a hotel and scuba diving centre on the Island. The Yemenis then sent a force of 200 men, to guard the construction site. Eritrean officials thought that the construction work which the Yemen started on Greater Hanish was an attempt to establish facts on the ground before the negotiations scheduled for February started. "Prompted by concern over the Yemeni construction project on Hanish al-Kabir, Eritrea's Foreign Minister Petros Solomon delivered, on 11 November 1995, an ultimatum giving San'a one month to withdraw Yemeni military forces and civilians from Hanish al-Kabir"Lefebvre References page 372-373] . When that ultimatum ran out and the Yemeni military forces and civilians had not withdrawn the Eritreans launched their attack and captured the Island.

Three other reasons have been proposed for the attack by the Eritreans on the island. The Yemeni opposition sources claimed that during 1994, Sana'a received clandestine military assistance from Israel via the Eritreans and the Eritreans took Hanish when Sana'a failed to deliver the promised payments. Yemen's military claimed that they had intercepted radio messages in Hebrew and that "several Israelis" had helped to direct the Eritrean operation. This led the Arab League to suggest that the real motive for the attack was that Israel intended to set up a base on the island. The third reason put forward is that there may be oil in the Red Sea and that the territorial rights to the seabed was the underlying reason for the war.

As no resolution to the problem could be reached in bilateral talks, the status of the archipelago was placed in front of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in the Netherlands.

Arbitration

The two parties presented their case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration on October 3, 1996. The court returned its findings (CHAPTER XI – Dispositif) on 9 October, 1998 and it found that:
* Eritrea - Yemen Arbitration at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague, The Netherlands
** [http://www.pca-cpa.org/showpage.asp?pag_id=1160 Arbitration Agreement] (October 3, 1996)
**Phase I: Territorial Sovereignty and Scope of Dispute
*** [http://www.yemen-nic.net/English%20site/SITE%20CONTAINTS/about%20yemen/agreements/Eritrea%20-%20Yemen%20Arbitration/Eritrea-Yemen%20Award%20phase%201/Eritrea-Yemen%20Award%20-%20CHAPTER%20I.htm CHAPTER I - The Setting up of the Arbitration and the Arguments of the Parties] ...
*** [http://www.yemen-nic.net/English%20site/SITE%20CONTAINTS/about%20yemen/agreements/Eritrea%20-%20Yemen%20Arbitration/Eritrea-Yemen%20Award%20phase%201/Eritrea-Yemen%20Award%20-%20CHAPTER%20XI.htm CHAPTER XI – Dispositif]
** [http://www.yemen-nic.net/English%20site/SITE%20CONTAINTS/about%20yemen/agreements/Eritrea%20-%20Yemen%20Arbitration/Eritrea-Yemen%20Award%20phase%202/introduction.htm Award: Phase II: Maritime Delimitation: Introduction]
*** [http://www.yemen-nic.net/English%20site/SITE%20CONTAINTS/about%20yemen/agreements/Eritrea%20-%20Yemen%20Arbitration/Eritrea-Yemen%20Award%20phase%202/Eritrea-Yemen%20Award%20Phase%20II%20-%20Chapter%20II.htm CHAPTER II - The General Question of Fishing in the Red Sea]
*** [http://www.yemen-nic.net/English%20site/SITE%20CONTAINTS/about%20yemen/agreements/Eritrea%20-%20Yemen%20Arbitration/Eritrea-Yemen%20Award%20phase%202/Eritrea-Yemen%20Award%20Phase%20II%20-%20Chapter%20III.htm CHAPTER III - Petroleum Agreements and Median Lines]
*** [http://www.yemen-nic.net/English%20site/SITE%20CONTAINTS/about%20yemen/agreements/Eritrea%20-%20Yemen%20Arbitration/Eritrea-Yemen%20Award%20phase%202/Eritrea-Yemen%20Award%20Phase%20II%20-%20Chapter%20IV.htm CHAPTER IV - The Traditional Fishing Regime]
*** [http://www.yemen-nic.net/English%20site/SITE%20CONTAINTS/about%20yemen/agreements/Eritrea%20-%20Yemen%20Arbitration/Eritrea-Yemen%20Award%20phase%202/Eritrea-Yemen%20Award%20Phase%20II%20-%20Chapter%20V.htm CHAPTER V - The Delimitation of the International Boundary]
*** [http://www.pca-cpa.org/ENGLISH/RPC/EY/2ch6ER-YE.htm CHAPTER VI - Dispositif]

On 1 November 1998 "Yemeni Defence Minister Mohammad Diefallah Mohammad raised his country's flag over the island of Greater Hanish as Yemeni army and navy troops took up positions on it. At the same time, Eritrean troops departed on board a helicopter and a naval vessel." [ [http://www.msu.edu/course/pls/364/stein/io.htm United Nations and international organizations page] Michigan State University. November 1, 1998 Yemen flag raised overGreater Hanish]

Notes

References

*Dzurek, Daniel J. " [http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/ibru/publications/full/bsb4-1_dzurek.pdf Eritrea-Yemen Dispute Over the Hanish Islands] " [http://www.dur.ac.uk/ibru/publications/bulletin/ Boundary and Security Bulletin] , 1996 - Durham University
*ICRC " [http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/57JMQ4 Eritrea: 196 prisoners of war and 17 civilians repatriated to Yemen] " 30 December 1995
*Professor Jeffrey A Lefebvre, "Red Sea Security And The Geopolitical-Economy of The Hanish Islands Dispute" (Middle East Journal, Volume 52, No 3.) summer of 1998
*Schofield, C. H. and Pratt, M. A. (1996 - in press), "The Hanish Islands Dispute in the Southern Red Sea", Jane’s Intelligence Review. (cited by Dzurek)
*Dzurek, Daniel J.
*Staff, [http://www.au.af.mil/au/aul/bibs/mideast/midest19.htm Yemem] , Air University Library Publications, Middle East, December 1999,
* Staff. " [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5037/is_199601/ai_n18294997?tag=artBody;col1 Whore wars? The Red Sea. (Hanish Islands)] ", Economist (London), vol. 338, no. 7947, 13 January 1996, pp. 43-44.)
* Staff. [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/hanish.htm |title=El Salvador Civil War] , [http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/index.html globalsecurity.org] , Retrieved 2006-08-25
*Wertheim, Eric. "The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World: Their Ships, Aircraft, and Systems", Naval Institute Press, 2007 ISBN 159114955X.
*Whitaker, Brian. " [http://www.al-bab.com/yemen/artic/mei15.htm Clash over islands] " in Middle East International 5 January 1996
*Younis, Saleh AA. " [http://www.awate.com/artman/publish/article_3842.shtml The Lessons of Yemen] ", Saudi Gazzette, December 14, 2004

Further reading

* [http://www.yementimes.com/99/iss52/l&d.htm Comparative Study Between Yemeni-Eritrean Ways of Documentation in Arbitration Over Red Sea South Islands] 52 - in By: Abdulla Mohammed Al-Saidi Vice Minister of foreign Affairs in Law & Diplomacy - Issue 52 - Yemen Times December 27th through January 2nd 2000, Vol IX
*Allegation and counter allegations
* [http://www.au.af.mil/au/aul/bibs/mideast/midest19.htm Air University Library Publications: MIDDLE EAST: December 1999:YEMEN] Gidron, Avner. "Disputes: Eritrea's Ally?" World Press Review 43:25 March 1996. "Yemen alleges that Israel backed the Eritrean troops who captured three Red Sea islands from Yemen".
* [http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=1404 Ethiopia-Sudan-Yemen alliance a "conspiracy", Eritrea’s FM] reported in the Sudan Tribune 8 January 2004. Text of interview with Eritrean Foreign Minister Ali Said Abdella by Musa Idriss entitled "Sanaa Grouping was born by ’caesarean’ - its aims: asphyxiating Eritrea," says Eritrean foreign minister"; published by London-based newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat on 6 January 2004;