Eritreans withdrawing from islands awarded to Yemen: French commander
Copyright 1998 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet) /
Thu, 15 Oct 1998 15:26:53 PDT
ABU DHABI, Oct 15 (AFP) - Eritrean forces have begun retreating from Red Sea
islands which an international arbitration panel awarded to Yemen last week,
the commander of the French fleet in the Indian Ocean, Rear-Admiral
Jean-Louis Battet, said Thursday.
"The crisis is about to end," he told reporters aboard the French naval ship
La Somme, following exercises with the United Arab Emirates' navy.
"They began pulling out even before the decision" of the London panel which
awarded the main disputed islands of Greater Hanish, Lesser Hanish and Jebel
Zuqar to Yemen, Battet told reporters.
The French forces were assigned by Yemen and Eritrea to oversee the status
quo on the islands while the panel deliberated.
Earlier Thursday in Sanaa, Yemeni Prime Minister Abdel Karim al-Iriyani said
in a meeting with Eritrean Foreign Minister Haile Weldenase that Yemen wants
to normalize its ties with Asmara.
Iriyani said the Hanish verdict served as "an example for countries which
want to resolve their territorial conflicts," the official Yemeni news
agency, Saba, reported.
Committees are to be set up to improve relations between Sanaa and Asmara,
the news agency said.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdel Kader Bajammal has visited Asmara since the
ruling.
Eritrea and Yemen clashed in December 1995 when Eritrean troops took over
Greater Hanish, but they signed a French-brokered accord in May 1996 to seek
international arbitration.
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