TheBab-el-Mandeb (Arabic:باب المندب,lit. 'Gate of Grief'), theGate of Grief or theGate of Tears,^[1] is astrait betweenYemen on theArabian Peninsula andDjibouti andEritrea in theHorn of Africa. It connects theRed Sea to theGulf of Aden and by extension theIndian Ocean.

Bab-el-Mandeb
Bab-el-Mandeb as seen from space(top) and on alocator map(bottom).
Location	BetweenNortheast Africa andWest Asia
Coordinates	12°35′N43°20′E / 12.583°N 43.333°E /12.583; 43.333
Basin countries	Djibouti,Eritrea andYemen
Max. length	31 mi (50 km)
Min. width	16 mi (26 km)
Average depth	609 ft (186 m)
Islands	Seven Brothers,Doumeira,Perim

In "Bab-el-Mandeb", "Bab" means "gate" while "Mandeb" means "lamentation" or "grief". The strait derives its name from the dangers attending its navigation or, according to an Arab legend, from the numbers who were drowned by an earthquake that separated theArabian Peninsula from theHorn of Africa.^[2]

Paleo-environmental andtectonic events in theMiocene epoch created the Danakil Isthmus, a land bridge forming a broad connection between Yemen and Ethiopia.^[3] During the last 100,000 years,eustatic sea level fluctuations have led to alternate opening and closing of the straits.^[4] According to therecent single origin hypothesis, the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb were probably witness to the earliest migrations ofmodern humans. It is presumed that the oceans were then much lower and the straits were much shallower or dry, which allowed a series of emigrations along the southern coast of Asia.

In Arab tradition it is reported that in ancient times Asia and Africa were joined together, untilthey were split at the Bab-el-Mandeb.Yaqut al-Hamawi associates the name Bab-el-Mandeb with the 6th century crossing of theAksumites over the sea to Yemen. Two Sabaean inscriptions of the early 6th century mentionsilsilat al-Mandab in connection with the conflict betweenDhu Nuwas and the Aksumites.^[5]

TheBritish East India Company unilaterally seized the island ofPerim in 1799 on behalf of itsIndian empire. The government ofBritain asserted its ownership in 1857 and erected a lighthouse there in 1861, using it to command theRed Sea and the trade routes through the Suez Canal.^[2] It was used as a coaling station to refuel steamships until 1935 when the reduced use of coal as fuel rendered the operation unprofitable.^[6]

The British presence continued until 1967 when the island became part of thePeople's Republic of South Yemen. Before the handover, the British government had put forward before theUnited Nations a proposal for the island to be internationalized^[7][8] as a way to ensure the continued security of passage and navigation in the Bab-el-Mandeb, but this was refused.

In 2008 a company owned byTarek bin Laden unveiled plans to build a bridge named Bridge of the Horns across the strait, linkingYemen withDjibouti.^[9] Middle East Development LLC issued a notice to construct a bridge passing across the Red Sea that would be the longest suspended passing in the world.^[10] The project was assigned to engineering companyCOWI in collaboration with architect studioDissing+Weitling, both from Denmark but the announced delay to Phase 1 in 2010 and the lack of any further updates since makes this a defunct project.

The Bab-el-Mandeb acts as a strategic link between theIndian Ocean and theMediterranean Sea via the Red Sea and theSuez Canal. Most exports of petroleum and natural gas from the Persian Gulf that transit the Suez Canal or theSUMED Pipeline pass through both the Bab el-Mandeb and theStrait of Hormuz.^[11] While the narrow width of the strait requires vessels to travel through theterritorial sea of adjacent states, under the purview of Article 37 of theUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the legal concept oftransit passage applies to Bab el-Mandeb, although Eritrea (unlike the rest of coastal countries) is not a party to the convention.^[12]

Chokepoints are narrow channels along widely used global sea routes that are critical to global energy security. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is 26 kilometres (14 nautical miles) wide at its narrowest point, limiting tanker traffic to two 2-mile-wide channels for inbound and outbound shipments.^[11][2]

Closure of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait could keep tankers originating in the Persian Gulf from transiting the Suez Canal or reaching the SUMED Pipeline, forcing them to divert around the southern tip of Africa, which would increase transit time and shipping costs.

In 2006, an estimated 3.3 million barrels (520,000 m³) of oil passed through the strait per day, out of a world total of about 43 million barrels per day (6,800,000 m³/d) moved bytankers.^[13] This rose by 2014 to 5.1 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil, condensate and refined petroleum products headed toward Europe, the United States, and Asia, then an estimated 6.2 million b/d by 2018. Total petroleum flows through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait accounted for about 9% of total seaborne-traded petroleum (crude oil and refined petroleum products) in 2017. About 3.6 million b/d moved north toward Europe; another 2.6 million b/d flowed in the opposite direction mainly to Asian markets such as Singapore, China, and India.^[11]

The distance across is about 26 kilometres (14 nmi) fromRas Menheli in Yemen toRas Siyyan in Djibouti. The island ofPerim divides the strait into two channels, of which the eastern, known as theBab Iskender (Alexander's Strait), is 5.37 kilometres (2.90 nmi) wide and has a depth of 29metres; 96feet (16 fathoms) deep, while the western, orDact-el-Mayun, has a width of 20.3 kilometres (11.0 nmi) and a depth of 310 metres; 1,020 feet (170 fathoms). Near the coast of Djibouti lies a group of smaller islands known as the "Seven Brothers". There is a surface current inwards in the eastern channel, but a strong undercurrent outwards in the western channel.^[2]

The most significant towns and cities along both the Djiboutian and Yemeni sides of the Bab-el-Mandeb:

• Khôr ʽAngar
• Moulhoule
• Fagal

• At Turbah
• Cheikh Saïd
• Perim

Strait:

• Red Sea Dam

Region:

• Horn of Africa
• Mashriq

Rail (tunnel or bridge) transport:

• Rail transport in Djibouti
• Rail transport in Eritrea
• Rail transport in Somalia
• Rail transport in Yemen

• "Bab-el-Mandeb" ,Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 3 (11th ed.), 1911, p. 91
• Notice-to-Proceed Launches Ambitious Red Sea Crossing
• Sea crossing