Yemeni foreign minister in Asmara to start a new and positive relation

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdul Qader Bajmal arrived in Asmara on Tuesday carrying a message from Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to his Eritrean counterpart Assyas Afworki.

Eritrea's national radio said that Bajmal who is leading a six-member Yemeni delegation in his visit, which will discuss with Eritrea's officials means of "resuming bilateral cooperation."

Earlier, President Saleh talked on the telephone with Afworki. The two presidents "expressed welcome" for the decision of the international arbitration committee in the Hague, which confirmed Yemen's supremacy over the Hanish Islands in the Red Sea, following confrontations between the two countries in which 12 persons were killed in 1995.

Eritrean Minister of Foreign Affairs Haile Woldensae said in a televised interview Monday night that the peaceful solution of the Eritrean-Yemeni crisis concerning the disputed islands in the Red Sea will bring tranquility to the region and will strengthen the relationship between the peoples of Eritrea and Yemen. He said the next move will concern delineation of territorial waters. Mr. Woldensae stated that the peaceful solution to the crisis was a positive example to nations with similar problems.

Following the decision on restoring sovereignty over the islands, President Saleh gave his directives to the Yemeni airlines to resume flights to Asmara. Flights between the two countries were suspended following Eritrean forces' occupation of Greater Hanish Island in December 1995.

Official sources in the Yemen airlines announced that a Boeing-727 airplane affiliated to the company headed yesterday to Asmara to resume flights between Yemen and Eritrea after they were halted for nearly three years because of the crisis over the Hanish Islands, in which the international arbitration committee issued a judgment giving Yemen sovereignty over the group, and Eritrea agreed to the judgement.

The sources said that Yemeni air trips to Asmara will be organized starting from the coming Saturday with an average of one trip per week.