Abd al Kuri () is a rocky

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

in the

Guardafui Channel The Guardafui Channel (, ) is an oceanic strait off the tip of the Horn of Africa that lies between the Puntland region of Somalia and the Socotra governorate of Yemen to the west of the Arabian Sea. It connects the Gulf of Aden to the north ...

. As a part of the Socotra Archipelago Governorate of

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

, it lies about 65 miles (105 km) southwest of the main island of

Socotra Socotra, locally known as Saqatri, is a Yemeni island in the Indian Ocean. Situated between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea, it lies near major shipping routes. Socotra is the largest of the six islands in the Socotra archipelago as ...

. Its terrain primarily consists of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

and

diorite Diorite ( ) is an intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is Intermediate composition, inter ...

covered with

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

. Schürmann (1974) pp. 24. As of 2022, the island's population is unknown, due to reports of

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

occupying forces overseeing the expulsion of the island's communities, by gunpoint, in order to establish a UAE military base and airstrip on the landmass.

Geography

The terrain of Abd al-Kuri is

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a aridity, dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below Evapotranspiration#Potential evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, but not as l ...

, with little vegetation; annual

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

s, originating from the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

, deliver vital

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

each year. Two ranges of large hills, separating near the island's centre, run nearly the entire east-west length of the island. Nautical magazine (1878) pp. 809. The northern coast consists mostly of sandy beaches with a few rocky outcrops and cliffs, while the southern coast consists of high, steep cliffs. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (2007) pp. 180. The island's highest point, Mount Ṣāliḥ, reaches an altitude of over . The total area of Abd al-Kuri is 133 km² (51 sq mi). Most of its inhabitants subsist on

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

. Kilmia is the main village.

Flora and fauna

Abd al-Kuri has a number of

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

species, including the

subshrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or undershrub is either a small shrub (e.g. prostrate shrubs) or a perennial that is largely herbaceous but slightly woody at the base (e.g. garden pink and florist's chrysanthemum). The term is often interch ...

species '' Ruellia kuriensis'' and '' Convolvulus kossmatii''. The island is home to an endemic

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

, the Abd al-Kuri sparrow (''Passer hemileucus''), which has an estimated population of fewer than 1,000 individuals.2010. "''Passer hemileucus'' " In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.1.
Downloaded on 6 October 2011. Redman; Fanshawe; Stevenson (2009) pp. 412. The island has been recognised as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA), by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

, for the presence of the endemic sparrow as well as for breeding

colonies A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

of the

red-billed tropicbird The red-billed tropicbird (''Phaethon aethereus'') is a tropicbird, one of three closely related species of seabird of tropical oceans. Superficially resembling a tern in appearance, it has mostly white plumage with some black markings on the wi ...

(''Phaethon aethereus''),

sooty gull The sooty gull (''Ichthyaetus hemprichii'') is a species of gull in the family Laridae, also known as the Aden gull or Hemprich's gull. It is found in Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Maldives, Moza ...

(''Ichthyaetus hemprichii'') and

Persian shearwater The Persian shearwater (''Puffinus persicus'') is a seabird in the family Procellariidae formerly lumped in with Audubon's shearwater (''Puffinus lherminieri''). Subspecies There are two listed subspecies of the Persian shearwater: * ''P. p. ...

(''Puffinus persicus''). Two species of

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

s native to Abd al-Kuri, the Socotran wall lizard ('' Mesalina kuri'') and the Abd al-Kuri rock gecko ('' Pristurus abdelkuri''), are named after the island. Additional

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s present include the Abd al-Kuri skink ('' Trachylepis cristinae''), the sharpnose leaf-toed gecko ('' Hemidactylus oxyrhinus'') and the Socotra leaf-toed gecko ('' Hemidactylus forbesii'').

History

Thomas Fellowes was sent on HMS ''Briton'' in 1872 to Abd al Kuri, alongside Socotra, by British authorities to see if it would be a suitable place to settle liberated slaves. Fellowes decided against it, citing the poor living conditions on both islands.

UAE violations

In late june of 2022, the Yemen Press Agency reported on the expulsion and forced evictions at gun point of residents from their villages on the island of Abd Al kuri in the socotra archipelago. The sources added that the recent displacement came after construction work began to build a military base, which is speculated to host joint UAE and Israeli forces stationed in the archipelago. In the first half of 2024, an airstrip appeared on satellite imagery of the island and an array of stones that can be seen from a satellite stating "I love UAE." The UAE is currently completing the construction and declined to comment on the subject or claim responsibility.

Map

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{Authority control Islands of Yemen Socotra archipelago Important Bird Areas of Socotra Seabird colonies