- Hanish Islands
The Hanish Islands ( _ar. جزر هانيش) are an
island group in theRed Sea . Most of them are a part ofYemen , but before 1998-1999 they were claimed byEritrea as well. After a long trial with an international court under the guidance of Dr. Abdul-Karim Aleryani, Yemen was granted full ownership of the larger islands while Eritrea was awarded the peripheral islands to the southwest of the larger islands [cite web|accessdate=2006-07-17 |url=http://www.pca-cpa.org/PDF/chart3.gif|title=International Maritime Boundary] .History
The Hanish Islands were claimed by
Turkey until 1923 when they were abandoned. From that point forward they were administered by the Colony of Eritrea until 1941. In 1941, after the defeat of the Italian Colonial forces, the British army established Eritrea as a protectorate. Throughout the 1970sEthiopia (which had annexed Eritrea) and Yemen claimed the islands. Ethiopian interest in the Islands stemmed from the fact that Eritrean independence groups used the Hanish Islands, and the nearbyZuqar Island , as a base to attack Ethiopian military interests. [cite book| last=Killion | first=Tom | title=Historical Dictionary of Eritrea |id= ISBN 0-8108-3437-5 | publisher=The Scarecrow Press | year=1998]In 1991 Eritrea gained independence and in 1995 attempted to exercise sovereignty over the archipelago. This started the
Hanish islands crises which were eventually arbitrated after a brief conflict.ee also
*
Zuqar Island References
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