Red Sea Lights

 The Red Sea lights were not communist conspiracies to put special luminaries at maritime locations.  Rather, it represented an international agreement to defray the cost of maintaining several lighthouses in the Red Sea.  At the southern end of the Red Sea, just northwest of the Strait of Bab el Mandeb, are located 23 small, barren islands.  The islands are sometimes referred to collectively as the Hanish Islands.  Lighthouses were established on the islands of Abu Ail and Jabal al Tair.  When the Ottoman Empire was dissolved following World War I, sovereignty over the Hanish Islands, which lie between what are now Yemen and Eritrea, was left unresolved.  The colonial powers Italy and Britain had previously exercised minor levels of control over the islands.  During the interwar period, Britain took the lead in maintaining the Red Sea lights.  A Convention on Maintenance of Certain Lights was drafted in 1930, but never came into effect.  Eventually, in 1962, various nations with navigation interests in the area, signed the International Agreement regarding the Maintenance of Certain Lights in the Red Sea (TIAS 6150, 17 UST 2145).  Again, Britain took the lead in maintaining the lights, with the other nations contributing toward the cost.  Eventually, sixteen nations were party to the Red Sea Lights Agreement, including numerous European nations, the United States, Egypt, Kuwait, the USSR, and the People’s Republic of China.  The IMO adopted two Assembly Resolutions regarding the Red Sea lights.  The first (in 1963) noted that efficient functioning of the lights was essential to safe navigation in the area.  The second (in 1965) expressed concern at the state of the lights and the likelihood of further deterioration.  What happened?  Nationalism!  In 1962, rebel forces in Yemen overthrew the monarchy.  At the same time, the former British protectorate of Eritrea was absorbed into Ethiopia.  Neither of these political changes went smoothly.  It became increasingly untenable for Britain to maintain the Red Sea lights.  The 1962 Agreement was allowed to expire on March 31, 1990, but by then the actual lights were no longer in operation.  In December 1995, military forces from Yemen and Eritrea fought a three-day war over their conflicting claims to the Hanish Islands.  In 1998, the Permanent Court of Arbitration awarded the islands to Yemen.  The Red Sea lights are now largely a memory.  They also represent an international effort (albeit ultimately futile) to cooperate on the maintenance and funding of maritime aids to navigation.