The Doumeira Islands ( so, Dumeera, , ) are situated northeast of

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

and east of

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

near the

Bab el-Mandeb The Bab-el-Mandeb (Arabic: , , ) is a strait between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula, and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. It connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Name The strait derives its name from the dangers attendin ...

in the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

. They consist of ''Doumeira'', located less than one kilometer off of the Eritrean and Djiboutian shore, and the much smaller island of ''Kallîda'', which is 250 meters to the east.

History

The currently-in-force 1900 boundary agreement specifies that the international boundary starts at ''Cape Doumeira'' (

Ras Doumeira Ras Doumeira (''Cape Doumeira'') ( so, Raas Dumeera, ) is a geographic cape that extends into the Red Sea, towards the Doumeira Islands. The area is shared by Djibouti and Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتري ...

) at the

and runs for 1.5 km along the watershed divide of the peninsula. Furthermore, the 1900 protocol specified that ''Ile Doumeira'' (Doumeira Island) immediately offshore and its adjacent smaller islets would not be assigned sovereignty and would remain a demilitarized neutral zone. In January 1935, Italy and France signed the

Franco-Italian Agreement The Franco-Italian Agreements (often called ''Mussolini-Laval Accord'') were signed in Rome by both French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval and Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini on 7 January 1935. History After its victory in World War I, it ...

wherein parts of

French Somaliland French Somaliland (french: Côte française des Somalis, lit= French Coast of the Somalis so, Xeebta Soomaaliyeed ee Faransiiska) was a French colony in the Horn of Africa. It existed between 1884 and 1967, at which time it became the French Ter ...

(Djibouti) were given to Italy (Eritrea). However, the question of ratification has brought this agreement, and its provision of substantial parts of Djibouti to Eritrea, into question. In April 1996 the two countries almost went to war after a Djibouti official accused Eritrea of shelling Ras Doumeira.

References

{{Reflist Disputed islands Islands of Djibouti Territorial disputes of Djibouti Territorial disputes of Eritrea Djibouti–Eritrea relations