Abu Musa
From Free net encyclopedia
- This is a geographical article. For the Palestinian leader, see Said al-Muragha.
Abu Musa or Gap-Sabzu (in Persian ابوموسی) is an island in the eastern Persian Gulf. Ownership is claimed by the United Arab Emirates, but also by Iran, whose troops occupy the island.
The 12-square-kilometer island is one of six in the Abu Musâ archipelago, which is strategically located near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. Its roughly 500 inhabitants call it گپسبزو (Gap-sabzu), which in Persian means "the great green place". Old documents call it Bumuf or Bum-i Musa, meaning "the land of Musa" in Persian.
The island's ownership is disputed. Abu Musa used to be controlled by the emirate of Sharjah. In the late 1960s, Iran cited historic reasons and extended a claim of sovereignty. In 1971, Iran and Sharjah agreed that Sharjah would retain sovereignty, but Iran would station troops there. Iranian troops soon took control of Abu Musa, plus the nearby Greater and Lesser Tunbs. Sharjah complained via diplomatic channels, but took no other action.
In 1980, the United Arab Emirates, to which Sharjah then belonged, submitted its claim for Abu Musa to the United Nations. In 1992, Iran banned foreigners from the island and declared full sovereignty over it. Soon after, the UAE and Iran announced they had agreed to keep to the 1971 agreement. Nonetheless, Iran has kept the ban on foreigners and stationed more troops on the island, which it administers as a sub-province of its Hormozgan province.
The UAE maintains its claim of sovereignty, which is supported by the Gulf Cooperation Council, whose members are the Arab nations of the Persian Gulf.