The Hanish Islands

Islands between two coasts

The four main islands, from the north Jabal Zuqar, Lesser Hanish, Greater Hanish and Suyul Hanish, run in a chain about 65 km long, 32–70 km off the Yemeni coast. Many small islets and rocks stretch from them southwest towards Eritrea. They are volcanic, rugged and barren, but the waters around them are rich fishing grounds.^[3]

None of the islands has ever been lived on except seasonally or for short spells.^[1] Traditionally, fishermen and traders crossing between the two shores sheltered on them from strong winds, without meeting any government.^[1]

From the Ottomans to 1991

Both sides agreed that before Italy colonised the Eritrean coast in the late 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was the unchallenged ruler of both coasts and of the islands.^[1] In the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923, Turkey gave up its rights to former Ottoman territories and islands. Article 16 left their future to be “settled by the parties concerned”.^[1] The Hanish Islands lay between areas taken by Britain and Italy, and their status was left open on purpose. From 1923 until the Second World War, Italy kept a loose control over the fishermen who used them.^[3]

Two claims

Eritrea argued for a chain of title more than 100 years long: from Italy to Ethiopia, and then to Eritrea when it became independent in 1993.^[1] It cited Italian activity on the islands, including a lighthouse built on South West Haycock in 1929. It also pointed to Ethiopian control of the lighthouses, its patrols and its oil licences.^[1]

Yemen claimed an “original, historic, or traditional” title, which it traced to the Bilad el-Yemen, the realm of Yemen, as early as the 6th century AD.^[1] It argued that Ottoman rule had not taken that title away, and that until December 1995 Ethiopia’s and Eritrea’s conduct had been consistent with Yemeni sovereignty.^[1]

Fighting in December 1995

A German company, working under Yemeni auspices, began building a hotel and scuba-diving centre on Greater Hanish, and Yemen sent about 200 men to guard the site.^[4] Eritrea said its navy found a Yemeni military and civilian group there in 1995.^[1] Fighting in December 1995 left Eritrean forces on Greater Hanish and Yemeni forces on Zuqar.^[1] At least 12 people died, and more than 200 Yemenis were taken prisoner.^[4]

On the advice of the UN Secretary-General, both countries asked France to help.^[1] In Paris on 21 May 1996 they signed an Agreement on Principles, witnessed by France, Ethiopia and Egypt. Both gave up the use of force against each other and agreed to set up a tribunal.^[1] The Arbitration Agreement followed on 3 October 1996. Each side named two arbitrators, and together they agreed on Sir Robert Jennings as president.^[1]

The award

On 9 October 1998 the five arbitrators ruled unanimously. Yemen got the Zuqar-Hanish group, the lone island of Jabal al-Tayr and the Zubayr group further north. Eritrea got the Mohabbakah islands, the Haycock Islands and the South West Rocks.^[1] For the main islands the tribunal found that, on balance, the evidence favoured Yemen’s exercise of state authority. It added that under the Ottomans the islands were governed from the Arabian coast.^[1]

The tribunal also said that Yemen’s sovereignty “entails the perpetuation of the traditional fishing regime”, with free access for fishermen from both countries.^[1] Both sides said they accepted the ruling.^[4] Eritrea said it would withdraw in less than the 90 days the award allowed.^[5] The islands officially became part of Yemen on 1 November 1998.^[3] A second award, on 17 December 1999, drew the sea boundary between the two countries as a line of 29 turning points.^[6]

“Yemen shall ensure that the traditional fishing regime of free access and enjoyment for the fishermen of both Eritrea and Yemen shall be preserved for the benefit of the lives and the livelihoods of this poor and industrious order of men.”^[1]

Yemen’s war reaches the islands

During Yemen’s civil war, which began in 2014, the United Arab Emirates built a military installation on the islands.^[3] In September 2026 Yemen’s Houthi movement took Greater and Lesser Hanish. Hundreds of forces allied to the internationally recognised government had withdrawn, and Houthi fighters moved in. It came days after the Houthis took the port of Mokha and Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb.^[7][2] This time the islands changed hands inside Yemen, from one side of its war to the other.^[7]