1.   France has been involved in mediation between Yemen and Eritrea in their dispute over the Hanish archipelago in the Read Sea.

2.   France has been mediating in the dispute over the Hanish archipelago at the entrance to the Red Sea, which both Yemen and Eritrea claim.

3.   He announced that both presidents had agreed to a demilitarisation of the nine islands in the Hanish archipelago but said the format still had to be worked out.

4.   Instead he demanded that both sides withdraw their troops from the Hanish archipelago of nine islands ahead of international arbitration.

5.   Instead he demanded both sides withdraw their troops from the Hanish archipelago of nine islands ahead of international arbitration.

6.   Both countries claim the Hanish archipelago near the mouth of the Red Sea, whose ownership has never been settled by international convention.

7.   But Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki rejected the demands, insisting that both sides withdraw their troops from the Hanish archipelago of nine islands ahead of international arbitration.

8.   Eritrea demanded Friday that both sides withdrew their troops from the Hanish archipelago of nine islands before taking their dispute to international arbitration.

9.   Egypt and Ethiopia have been helping Paris mediate the crisis which flared in December between Asmara and Sanaa over the Hanish archipelago at the mouth of the Red Sea.

10.   Eritrea has released a French couple detained in Asmara since mid-March for snapping photographs on an island of the disputed Hanish archipelago, the French foreign ministry announced Thursday.