Disputed Areas

X

Kuril Islands

Japan and Russia each claim the southern Kuril Islands. Settled by both countries in the 18th century, the Kuril Island chain became Japanese territory through a treaty signed in 1875. Japan ceded the islands to the USSR after World War II, but maintained a claim to the southernmost islands. After the USSR was dissolved in 1991, Russia continued to claim and occupy all of the islands.

XI

Libya/Algeria Border

Libya claims a small part of south-eastern Algeria.

XII

Mayotte

The Indian Ocean island of Mayotte is administered by France, although Comoros, the neighbouring island nation, claims sovereignty over it. In 1974 the four islands of the Comoros archipelago voted on whether or not to become independent from France, and only Mayotte voted to remain a French dependency. In the following year the Comoros unilaterally declared independence, claiming Mayotte as part of its territory, but Mayotte chose in a second referendum in 1976 to remain a dependency of France. Comoros bases its claim on the belief that the 1974 referendum was an archipelago-wide vote, while Mayotte views it as an island-by-island decision. The provisional status of Mayotte was resolved in January 2000 when representatives of the island's authorities signed an agreement with the French government, confirming that the island would remain French as a “departmental community” of France. The island's population ratified the agreement in a referendum in July 2000.

XIII

Nagorno-Karabakh

The Nagorno-Karabakh region is part of Azerbaijan, but Armenians comprise the majority of the population. Between 1988 and 1994 the enclave fought Soviet, then Azerbaijani, forces for secession. A ceasefire was established in May 1994, which left the region under the control of separatist ethnic Armenians. After seven years of an uneasy truce and stalling negotiations, new peace initiatives, brokered by France and Turkey, were formulated in early 2001. Nonetheless, neither Azerbaijan nor the United Nations recognize the region's separation from Azerbaijan.

XIV

Ogadēn

Somalia claims sovereignty over Ogadēn, an ethnically Somali region of far eastern Ethiopia. In 1977 Somalia invaded Ogadēn in an attempt to annex it, but Somali forces were defeated by the Ethiopian army in 1978. Ethiopia and Somalia signed a peace accord in 1988 but Somalia did not renounce its claim to the region.