Mousa Ali

{{short description|Stratovolcano located on the tri-point borders of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti}}

{{Infobox mountain

| name= Mousa Ali

|native_name ={{native name|ar|موسى علي}}

| photo= Mousa Ali.png

| photo_caption= Mousa Ali from Djibouti.

| elevation_m= 2021

| elevation_ref={{Cite web |title=World Ribus – Ethiopian Highlands

|url=https://worldribus.org/ethiopian-highlands/|access-date=2024-12-26 |website=World Ribus}}

| prominence_m= 1607

| prominence_ref=[http://www.peaklist.org/WWlists/ultras/africa.html Africa Ultra-Prominences, Peaklist.org, listed as "Moussa Ali Terara"] Retrieved 29 September 2011[http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=11143 "Moussa Ali" on Peakbagger] Retrieved 29 September 2011

| map= Djibouti

| map_size= 350

| map_caption= Location of Mousa Ali in Djibouti (on tri-point border with Eritrea and Ethiopia)

| label_position= right

| listing= The highest point in Djibouti
Ultra
Ribu

| country= {{enum|{{flag|Djibouti}}|{{flag|Ethiopia}}|{{flag|Eritrea}}}}

| subdivision2_type= Regions

| subdivision2= {{enum|Tadjourah Region|Afar Region|Southern Red Sea Region}}

| parent= Denakil

| coordinates= {{coord|12|28|07|N|42|24|15|E|type:mountain_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

| coordinates_ref=

| topo_map=

| mountain_type= Stratovolcano

| age=

| last_eruption= Holocene

| first_ascent= 1841

| easiest_route=

}}

Mousa Ali ({{langx|ar|موسى علي}}, {{langx|fr|Mousa Alli}}, {{langx|it|Moussa Ali}}) is a {{Convert|2021|m|ft|0|}} stratovolcano located on the tri-point of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. The volcano is the highest point in Djibouti. The volcano's summit is truncated by a caldera, which contains rhyolitic lava domes and lava flows.{{cite gvp|vn= 221123|name=Mousa Ali|accessdate= 2007-04-04}} The last known eruption occurred before the Holocene epoch.

Mousa Ali is situated at the tri-point of the Tadjourah Region of Djibouti, the Southern Red Sea Region of Eritrea, and the Afar Region of Ethiopia.

Geography

File:Mousa Ali Relief Map.png

The mountain has two distinct summits, the higher being the south one with an elevation of 2,021 metres.{{Cite web |title=World Ribus – Ethiopian Highlands

|url=https://worldribus.org/ethiopian-highlands/|access-date=2024-12-26 |website=World Ribus}} The north summit in Ethiopia has an elevation of 1,871 metres. Both summits are separated by a large caldera, about 1 km (0.71 mi) wide and 1514 metres deep. Mousa Ali, in the northern part of the Great Rift Valley region, has Eritrea on its northern flank, Ethiopia on the west, and Djibouti the east and south. The Djiboutian town of Dorra is 36 km to the south-southeast, the Ethiopian volcano Manda-Inakir is 22 km to the southwest, and the road from the Ethiopian town of Manda to the Eritrean port of Assab is 19 km to the northwest.

Wildlife and flora

The mountain is home to an abundance of wildlife, lush vegetation, flowering shrubs and trees and various plants.

History

Two sects of Afar live in the area. They are collectively known as Adrúmmi, from 'Adó rum li or "white as Byzantines."

The position of Ali Mousa as the tripoint between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti is not the result of an agreement between the three countries. In December 1948 the British administering Eritrea refused to attend a meeting with the other two parties to determine the exact location of their tripoint, set in a 1908 treaty as 60 km inland from the Red Sea. British administration of Eritrea ended in 1952, and with increasing Ethiopian administration over the ensuing decade, and incorporation into Ethiopia from 1962 to 1993, the boundary was internal, not international. In 2002, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission established the tri-point at the Mousa Ali summit;{{cite web

|url= http://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XXV/83-195.pdf

|format= PDF

|title=Reports of International Arbitral Awards-Decision regarding delimitation of the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia

|pages= 167; 179

|author=Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission

|date=2002-04-13

|publisher=United Nations

|accessdate=2017-01-20 }} Ethiopia had pressed for it to be further east, nearer to Dadda'to, Djibouti.