Yemen, Eritrea to mend tense relations over fishing rights

Sana'a, 10 Dec 2004, SPA -- Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said Friday his country and Eritrea have agreed to turn over a new page in their relations after resolving a misunderstanding over fishing rights near a once disputed Red Sea archipelago.
"No misunderstanding remains over fishing. What happened was a passing summer cloud," Saleh said in a joint news conference with visiting Eritrean counterpart Isaias Afeworki.
"What happened is the past. It is gone with all its negative and positive aspects, and we are starting a new page of excellent relations," he said.
Saleh said the two governments had reached an agreement to set up a joint fishing company to put an end to the dispute over fishing rights in areas surrounding the Hunaish archipelago in the south of the Red Sea.
Tensions recently flared up between Yemen and Eritrea over traditional fishing rights around the archipelago, the sovereignty of which was previously disputed by the two countries. The sovereignty dispute was resolved in December 1998 when a Hague-based international tribunal granted Yemen ownership over most of the islands.
The row had sparked armed confrontation in 1995 leading to an Eritrean occupation of the bigger island, the Great Hunaish.
Since the beginning of 2001, the two countries have been accusing each other of erroneous interpretation of the tribunal's verdict on fishing rights. --SP 1757 Local Time 1457 GMT