The Hanish Islands are an island group in the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

. Most of them are a part of Yemen

Yemen

The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....

, but before 1998–1999 they were claimed by Eritrea

Eritrea

Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...

 as well. After a long trial with an international court under the guidance of Dr. Abdul Karim Aleryani

Abdul Karim al-Iryani

Abdulkarim Ali Al-Eryani was the Prime Minister of Yemen from 29 April 1998 to 31 March 2001...

, Yemen was granted full ownership of the larger islands while Eritrea was awarded the peripheral islands to the southwest.

History

The Hanish Islands were claimed by the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

, a claim abandoned by Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 in 1923. From that point forward they were administered by the Italian Colony of Eritrea until 1941. In 1941, after the surrender of the Italian colonial forces, the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 army established Eritrea as a protectorate

Protectorate

In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...

. Throughout the 1970s Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

 (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 nearby Zuqar Island

Zuqar Island

Zuqar Island is an island belonging to Yemen in the Red Sea. It lies between the coasts of mainland Yemen and Eritrea, near the Bab-el-Mandeb straits which connect the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden...

, as a base to attack Ethiopian military interests.

In 1991 Eritrea gained independence and in 1995 attempted to exercise sovereignty over the archipelago. This started the Hanish Islands conflict, which was eventually ended after a brief conflict between Eritrea and Yemen over the islands. In all, 3–12 Eritreans and 4-15 Yemenis were killed in the fighting.