Eritrea has released four Djiboutian prisoners after mediation efforts from Qatar.

The four prisoners, who had been in jail for eight years, were accompanied by Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohamed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, aboard a Qatari plane to Djibouti on Friday.

Al-Thani and his delegation were met in Djibouti by Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, the country's foreign minister, Hassan Dharar Hufane, its defence minister, and Qatar's ambassador to Djibouti, Jassim bin Jaber Jassim Sorour.

In 2008, a territorial dispute sparked a three-day armed conflict between the Horn of Africa nations.

Hundreds of Qatari peacekeepers were later sent to the border, and Eritrea and Djibouti signed a peace deal in Doha in 2010.