Hot off the newswires....
SANAA, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Yemen's prime minister said on Friday an
international arbitration court had granted his country sovereignty
over the disputed Hanish islands which are also claimed by Eritrea,
an official and state media said.
There was no independent confbirmation of the reports. The
London-based arbitration panel was not immediately available for
comment.
The official told Reuters the court had informed both states of its
ruling on the Red Sea archipelago earlier on Friday. He said Prime
Minister Abdul-Karim al-Iryani made the remarks in a cable of
President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Yemen's state-run television interrupted its normal programme to
report the news.
"The cable mentioned that the decision of the arbitration committee
said Yemen had the right of sovereignty over all the disputed
islands,"' the official said. No further details were immediately
available.
Arab Yemen and African Eritrea's dispute over the islands -- located
near key shipping lanes -- led to clashes in 1995 in which at least 12
people died.
After mediation efforts involving Ethiopia, Egypt, the United Nations
and France, the two states agreed to arbitration to solve their
dispute.
They signed an agreement in 1996 setting up the five-judge arbitration
body. Yemen selected two judges on the panel, Eritrea chose another
two and both states agreed on the fifth.
Ties between Eritrea and Yemen have improved recently, with the first
Eritrean official visiting Yemen since the clash in March.
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Martin Pratt
Research Officer
International Boundaries Research Unit
Mountjoy Research Centre, Suite 3P
University of Durham
Durham DH1 3UR
United Kingdom
+44 (0)191 374 7704 (direct line)
+44 (0)191 374 7702 (fax)
[log in to unmask] (email)
http://www-ibru.dur.ac.uk (World Wide Web)
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