Hala'ib Triangle
Encyclopedia
The Hala'ib Triangle is an area of land measuring 20580 square kilometre located on the Red Sea's
Africa
n coast. The area, which takes its name from the town of Hala'ib
, is created by the difference in the Egypt
–Sudan
border between the "political boundary" set in 1899 by the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, which runs along the 22nd parallel north
, and the "administrative boundary" set by the British in 1902, which gave administrative responsibility for an area of land above the line to Sudan, which was an Anglo-Egyptian client at the time. With the independence of Sudan in 1956, both Egypt and Sudan claimed sovereignty
over the area. Since the mid-1990s, Egypt has exercised de facto effective administration of the area as part of the Red Sea Governorate, following the deployment of Egyptian military units there in the 1990s, and has been actively investing in it.
The description of the area as a "triangle" is a rough generalization. Only the southern 290 kilometres (180.2 mi) demarcation, which follows latitude 22, is a straight line. While the whole area is north of the 22 degree line, a smaller area south of latitude 22, referred to as Bir Tawil
, joins the Hala'ib Triangle at its westernmost point along the latitude line – neither Sudan nor Egypt claim Bir Tawil.
The area is sometimes referred to in Egypt as the "Sudan Government Administration Area" or SGAA.
In 1899, when the United Kingdom
held hegemony
in the area, the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium Agreement for Sudan set the political boundary between the territories at the 22nd parallel. However, in 1902 the British drew a separate "administrative boundary," which assigned administration of the territory of the Ababda tribe south of the 22-degree latitude line to Egypt, and gave the Sudan the grazing land of the Beja tribe north of the line to administer. The Sudanese-administered territory comprised about 18,000 km2, including the towns of Hala'ib
, Shalatin and Abu Ramad. When Sudan became independent in 1956, Egypt regarded the latitude 22 territorial boundary of 1899 as the border between the two countries, while Sudan held to the 1902 administrative boundary. As a result, both Egypt and Sudan claim sovereignity over the territory. Conversely, the area below the line which had been administered by Egypt, Bir Tawil
, is a terra nullius
, claimed by neither country.
In February 1958, two years after Sudanese independence, with Sudan planning to hold elections in the Triangle, President Gamal Abdel Nasser
of Egypt sent troops into the disputed region for the referendum of the proposed unification between Egypt and Syria
in the United Arab Republic
. but withdrew them the same month.
Although both countries continued to lay claim to the land, joint control of the area remained in effect until 1992, when Egypt objected to Sudan’s granting of exploration rights for the waters off the Triangle to a Canadian oil company. Negotiations began, but the company pulled out of the deal until sovereignty was settled. In July 1994, Sudan sent memoranda to the United Nations Security Council
, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the Arab League
complaining about what it claimed was more than 39 military and administrative incursions by Egypt into Sudanese territory since Sudan had last filed memoranda in May 1993. In January 1995 Egypt rejected a Sudanese request for the OAU Foreign Ministers' Council to review the dispute at their meeting in Addis Ababa. Then, after an unsuccessful assassination on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
when he arrived in Addis Ababa to attend the meeting, Egypt accused Sudan of complicity, and, among other responses, strengthened its control of the Hala'ib triangle, expelling Sudanese police and other officials.
In 1998, relations between Egypt and Sudan bettered somewhat, and the countries announced their intention to work together to resolve the Hala'ib Triangle dispute, with increased cooperation between their security forces. Later that year, though, Sudan accused Egypt of harrassing Sudanese citizens in the area, a charge which Egypt denied. Nevertheless, by March 1999, the countries were in diplomatic discussions aimed at improving relations between them. During a visit to Egypt by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir
in December 1999, a joint communique was issued pledging to solve the Hala'ib dispute "in an integrational brotherly context..."
In January 2000, Sudan withdrew its forces from the area, effectively ceding control of the border zone to Egypt, whose forces have occupied and administered the area since.
. Newly discovered oil reserves
in the territory may have prompted Al-Bashir's decision to resurrect Sudan’s claim, and this has only increased the desire of both states to claim the area. Al-Bashir reiterated the Sudanese claim of sovereignty over Hala'ib in a 2010 speech in Port Sudan
, saying "Hala'ib is Sudanese and will always be Sudanese."
The Eastern Front
, a Sudanese politico-military coalition comprising the Beja Congress
and Free Lions that recently signed a peace agreement with Khartoum
, has stated that it considers Hala'ib to be part of Sudan due its population being ethnically, linguistically and tribally connected to that country. The head of the Eastern Front and Beja Congress
, Musa Muhammad Ahmad, has declared that the issue of Hala'ib's sovereignty should be decided by international arbitration in a similar manner to the issue of sovereignty over Abyei
between Northern and Southern Sudan.
In October 2009 the Electoral Commission that prepared a comprehensive plan for Sudan's general elections in April 2010 declared that Hala'ib was one of the Red Sea State electoral districts and that its people should exercise their constitutional rights and register in order to participate in the general elections. Voter registration did not take place in the Hala'ib Triangle area because the team from the Sudanese election commission was refused entry by Egyptian authorities. In December 2009, the Sudanese presidential assistant Musa Mohamed Ahmed was barred from entering the border area. Ahmed's visit was intended to "assert [Sudanese] sovereignty over the [Hala'ib] triangle and inspect the situation of the people and provide moral and financial support to the members of the Sudanese army unit trapped inside since the [Egyptian] occupation began." His remarks were the first official recognition that Sudanese Army personnel remained inside the area of de facto Egyptian control. Ahmed also asserted that the Hal'ib Triangle is Sudanese and would not be forsaken "under any circumstances."
The government of Egypt is taking steps to close the Egyptian-Sudanese trade center of Alshalateen and move it to the border control pass point on the 22nd parallel, which has had its facilities enlarged and its administrative manpower increased to handle the Egyptian-Sudanese land trade. By doing this, trucks bringing goods to Egypt from Sudan will not be allowed to unload their goods in Alshalateen, as in the past, but instead at the Hadarba border pass point. Wadi Halfa
is another border pass point west of the Nile River at 22 degrees north.
As of 2009 the Egyptian electricity authority is building a line to supply the city of Alshalateen with electric power from the main Egyptian grid to replace the generators presently in use there. This line will extend in the future to Abu Ramad and Hala'ib. Since May 2010 a new paved road connects the triangle to Port Sudan
.
It was reported in the Sudanese daily Al-Ahram Today on 22 April 2010 that Al-Taher Muhammad Hasaay, the former head of the Hala'ib Council and a member of the Bisharin tribe who was campaigning against the Egyptian military presence in the Hala'ib triangle, died in a hospital in Cairo
after having been detained by Egyptian security forces without trial for two years. A delegation of the Bisharin tribe stated to the Sudan Media Centre that seven of their members were also in detention: Muhammad Eissa Saeed, who has been in custody for 6 years, Ali Eissa Abu Eissa and Muhammad Saleem, detained for 5 years, and Hashim Othman, Muhammad Hussein AbdalHakam, Karrar Muhammad Tahir and Muhammad Tahir Muhammad Saleh each in holding for 2 years.
In July 2010, it was reported in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm that the chiefs of three tribes in the Hala'ib triangle – el-Ababda, el-Basharya and el-Beja – supported the Egyptian claims for the area, stating that they are Egyptian and not Sudanese citizens, and that they have all the rights of Egyptian citizens, including national identity cards, the right to vote in elections and to serve in the Egyptian military.
On November 29, 2010, an open letter was sent to the President of Sudan by Muhammad Al-Hassan Okair (Toyota) who had been the parliamentary member of Hala'ib in 1995, from Hala'ib itself. The letter was written on behalf of the Bisharin
, Hamad-Orab and Aliyaab tribes and complained of the forced inclusion of 20 villages that had been administered under indigenous civil society structures into 2 Egyptian electoral districts. The letter further complained of the siege of Hala'ib, the fact that its inhabitants live within barbed wire and that anything from Sudan
is refused entry on the premise that Hala'ib is Egyptian and that the tribes' camels are not allowed to travel and graze for pasture in the ancestral lands of the Bisharin
from Hala'ib to the neighbouring River Nile (state)
in Sudan.
, Marsa Alam
and Qena
. The only other populated place is the small village of Hadarba, south east of Hala'ib town on the coast. Alshalateen is an Egyptian town just on the northern administrative boundary. The closest Sudanese town south of the disputed area is Osief (Marsa Osief), located 26 kilometres (16.2 mi) south of latitude 22, the political border line claimed by Egypt based on the 1899 agreement.
, making it a unique region among Egypt's dominating Mediterranean and North Africa
n ecosystems. There is also dense cover of acacia
s, mangrove
s and other shrubs, in addition to endemic species of plants such as Biscutella elbensis.
The highest peaks in the area are Mount Elba (1,435 m or 4,708 ft), Mount Shellal (1,409 m or 4,623 ft), Mount Shendib (1,911 m or 6,270 ft) and Mount Shendodai (1,526 m or 5,007 ft). The Gebel Elba
mountain area is a nature reserve
declared by Egypt in a decree signed by the former prime minister Ahmed Nazif
.
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n coast. The area, which takes its name from the town of Hala'ib
Hala'ib
Hala'ib or Halayeb is a Red Sea port and town, located in the Hala'ib Triangle, a area disputed between Egypt and Sudan. The town lies on the southern tip of the Egyptian Red Sea Riviera and is near the ruins of medieval Aydhab...
, is created by the difference in the Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
–Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
border between the "political boundary" set in 1899 by the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, which runs along the 22nd parallel north
22nd parallel north
The 22nd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 22 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, North America, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean....
, and the "administrative boundary" set by the British in 1902, which gave administrative responsibility for an area of land above the line to Sudan, which was an Anglo-Egyptian client at the time. With the independence of Sudan in 1956, both Egypt and Sudan claimed sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
over the area. Since the mid-1990s, Egypt has exercised de facto effective administration of the area as part of the Red Sea Governorate, following the deployment of Egyptian military units there in the 1990s, and has been actively investing in it.
The description of the area as a "triangle" is a rough generalization. Only the southern 290 kilometres (180.2 mi) demarcation, which follows latitude 22, is a straight line. While the whole area is north of the 22 degree line, a smaller area south of latitude 22, referred to as Bir Tawil
Bir Tawil
Bir Tawil or Bi'r Tawīl is a area along the border between Egypt and Sudan which is claimed by neither country. It is sometimes referred to as the Bir Tawil Triangle, despite the area's quadrilateral shape, with the longer side in the north of the area running along the 22° north circle of...
, joins the Hala'ib Triangle at its westernmost point along the latitude line – neither Sudan nor Egypt claim Bir Tawil.
The area is sometimes referred to in Egypt as the "Sudan Government Administration Area" or SGAA.
History
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
held hegemony
Hegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
in the area, the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium Agreement for Sudan set the political boundary between the territories at the 22nd parallel. However, in 1902 the British drew a separate "administrative boundary," which assigned administration of the territory of the Ababda tribe south of the 22-degree latitude line to Egypt, and gave the Sudan the grazing land of the Beja tribe north of the line to administer. The Sudanese-administered territory comprised about 18,000 km2, including the towns of Hala'ib
Hala'ib
Hala'ib or Halayeb is a Red Sea port and town, located in the Hala'ib Triangle, a area disputed between Egypt and Sudan. The town lies on the southern tip of the Egyptian Red Sea Riviera and is near the ruins of medieval Aydhab...
, Shalatin and Abu Ramad. When Sudan became independent in 1956, Egypt regarded the latitude 22 territorial boundary of 1899 as the border between the two countries, while Sudan held to the 1902 administrative boundary. As a result, both Egypt and Sudan claim sovereignity over the territory. Conversely, the area below the line which had been administered by Egypt, Bir Tawil
Bir Tawil
Bir Tawil or Bi'r Tawīl is a area along the border between Egypt and Sudan which is claimed by neither country. It is sometimes referred to as the Bir Tawil Triangle, despite the area's quadrilateral shape, with the longer side in the north of the area running along the 22° north circle of...
, is a terra nullius
Terra nullius
Terra nullius is a Latin expression deriving from Roman law meaning "land belonging to no one" , which is used in international law to describe territory which has never been subject to the sovereignty of any state, or over which any prior sovereign has expressly or implicitly relinquished...
, claimed by neither country.
In February 1958, two years after Sudanese independence, with Sudan planning to hold elections in the Triangle, President Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
of Egypt sent troops into the disputed region for the referendum of the proposed unification between Egypt and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
in the United Arab Republic
United Arab Republic
The United Arab Republic , often abbreviated as the U.A.R., was a sovereign union between Egypt and Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961, when Syria seceded from the union. Egypt continued to be known officially as the "United Arab Republic" until 1971. The President was Gamal...
. but withdrew them the same month.
Although both countries continued to lay claim to the land, joint control of the area remained in effect until 1992, when Egypt objected to Sudan’s granting of exploration rights for the waters off the Triangle to a Canadian oil company. Negotiations began, but the company pulled out of the deal until sovereignty was settled. In July 1994, Sudan sent memoranda to the United Nations Security Council
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the Arab League
Arab League
The Arab League , officially called the League of Arab States , is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and Southwest Asia . It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan , Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a...
complaining about what it claimed was more than 39 military and administrative incursions by Egypt into Sudanese territory since Sudan had last filed memoranda in May 1993. In January 1995 Egypt rejected a Sudanese request for the OAU Foreign Ministers' Council to review the dispute at their meeting in Addis Ababa. Then, after an unsuccessful assassination on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....
when he arrived in Addis Ababa to attend the meeting, Egypt accused Sudan of complicity, and, among other responses, strengthened its control of the Hala'ib triangle, expelling Sudanese police and other officials.
In 1998, relations between Egypt and Sudan bettered somewhat, and the countries announced their intention to work together to resolve the Hala'ib Triangle dispute, with increased cooperation between their security forces. Later that year, though, Sudan accused Egypt of harrassing Sudanese citizens in the area, a charge which Egypt denied. Nevertheless, by March 1999, the countries were in diplomatic discussions aimed at improving relations between them. During a visit to Egypt by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir
Omar al-Bashir
Lieutenant General Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir is the current President of Sudan and the head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister...
in December 1999, a joint communique was issued pledging to solve the Hala'ib dispute "in an integrational brotherly context..."
In January 2000, Sudan withdrew its forces from the area, effectively ceding control of the border zone to Egypt, whose forces have occupied and administered the area since.
Recent events
In 2004 Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir claimed that despite his nation's withdrawal in 2000, and Egypt's de facto control of the Triangle, the area still rightfully belonged to Sudan which had "never relinquished" it. "We did not make any concessions... The proof is that we have recently renewed the complaint to the Security Council," he said, according to the Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
. Newly discovered oil reserves
Oil reserves
The total estimated amount of oil in an oil reservoir, including both producible and non-producible oil, is called oil in place. However, because of reservoir characteristics and limitations in petroleum extraction technologies, only a fraction of this oil can be brought to the surface, and it is...
in the territory may have prompted Al-Bashir's decision to resurrect Sudan’s claim, and this has only increased the desire of both states to claim the area. Al-Bashir reiterated the Sudanese claim of sovereignty over Hala'ib in a 2010 speech in Port Sudan
Port Sudan
Port Sudan is the capital of Red Sea State, Sudan; it has 489,725 residents . Located on the Red Sea, it is the Republic of Sudan's main port city.-History:...
, saying "Hala'ib is Sudanese and will always be Sudanese."
The Eastern Front
Eastern Front (Sudan)
The Eastern Front is a coalition of rebel groups operating in eastern Sudan along the border with Eritrea, particularly the states of Red Sea and Kassala. The Eastern Front's Chairman is Musa Mohamed Ahmed...
, a Sudanese politico-military coalition comprising the Beja Congress
Beja Congress
The Beja Congress is a political group comprising several ethnic entities, most prominently the Beja, of the eastern region of Sudan. It was founded in 1957 by Dr. Taha Osman Bileya together with a group of Beja intellectuals, as a political platform for the politically and economically...
and Free Lions that recently signed a peace agreement with Khartoum
Khartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...
, has stated that it considers Hala'ib to be part of Sudan due its population being ethnically, linguistically and tribally connected to that country. The head of the Eastern Front and Beja Congress
Beja Congress
The Beja Congress is a political group comprising several ethnic entities, most prominently the Beja, of the eastern region of Sudan. It was founded in 1957 by Dr. Taha Osman Bileya together with a group of Beja intellectuals, as a political platform for the politically and economically...
, Musa Muhammad Ahmad, has declared that the issue of Hala'ib's sovereignty should be decided by international arbitration in a similar manner to the issue of sovereignty over Abyei
Abyei
The Abyei Area is an area of in Sudan accorded "special administrative status" by the 2004 Protocol on the resolution of the Abyei conflict in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. The capital of Abyei Area is Abyei Town...
between Northern and Southern Sudan.
In October 2009 the Electoral Commission that prepared a comprehensive plan for Sudan's general elections in April 2010 declared that Hala'ib was one of the Red Sea State electoral districts and that its people should exercise their constitutional rights and register in order to participate in the general elections. Voter registration did not take place in the Hala'ib Triangle area because the team from the Sudanese election commission was refused entry by Egyptian authorities. In December 2009, the Sudanese presidential assistant Musa Mohamed Ahmed was barred from entering the border area. Ahmed's visit was intended to "assert [Sudanese] sovereignty over the [Hala'ib] triangle and inspect the situation of the people and provide moral and financial support to the members of the Sudanese army unit trapped inside since the [Egyptian] occupation began." His remarks were the first official recognition that Sudanese Army personnel remained inside the area of de facto Egyptian control. Ahmed also asserted that the Hal'ib Triangle is Sudanese and would not be forsaken "under any circumstances."
The government of Egypt is taking steps to close the Egyptian-Sudanese trade center of Alshalateen and move it to the border control pass point on the 22nd parallel, which has had its facilities enlarged and its administrative manpower increased to handle the Egyptian-Sudanese land trade. By doing this, trucks bringing goods to Egypt from Sudan will not be allowed to unload their goods in Alshalateen, as in the past, but instead at the Hadarba border pass point. Wadi Halfa
Wadi Halfa
Wadi Halfa is a city in the state of Northern, in northern Sudan, on the shores of Lake Nubia . It is the terminus of a rail line from Khartoum and the point where goods are transferred from rail to ferries going down the Lake Nasser...
is another border pass point west of the Nile River at 22 degrees north.
As of 2009 the Egyptian electricity authority is building a line to supply the city of Alshalateen with electric power from the main Egyptian grid to replace the generators presently in use there. This line will extend in the future to Abu Ramad and Hala'ib. Since May 2010 a new paved road connects the triangle to Port Sudan
Port Sudan
Port Sudan is the capital of Red Sea State, Sudan; it has 489,725 residents . Located on the Red Sea, it is the Republic of Sudan's main port city.-History:...
.
It was reported in the Sudanese daily Al-Ahram Today on 22 April 2010 that Al-Taher Muhammad Hasaay, the former head of the Hala'ib Council and a member of the Bisharin tribe who was campaigning against the Egyptian military presence in the Hala'ib triangle, died in a hospital in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
after having been detained by Egyptian security forces without trial for two years. A delegation of the Bisharin tribe stated to the Sudan Media Centre that seven of their members were also in detention: Muhammad Eissa Saeed, who has been in custody for 6 years, Ali Eissa Abu Eissa and Muhammad Saleem, detained for 5 years, and Hashim Othman, Muhammad Hussein AbdalHakam, Karrar Muhammad Tahir and Muhammad Tahir Muhammad Saleh each in holding for 2 years.
In July 2010, it was reported in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm that the chiefs of three tribes in the Hala'ib triangle – el-Ababda, el-Basharya and el-Beja – supported the Egyptian claims for the area, stating that they are Egyptian and not Sudanese citizens, and that they have all the rights of Egyptian citizens, including national identity cards, the right to vote in elections and to serve in the Egyptian military.
On November 29, 2010, an open letter was sent to the President of Sudan by Muhammad Al-Hassan Okair (Toyota) who had been the parliamentary member of Hala'ib in 1995, from Hala'ib itself. The letter was written on behalf of the Bisharin
Bisharin
The Bisharin are a mostly Sufi Muslim tribe of the Beja nomadic ethnic group. They inhabit the eastern part of the Nubian Desert in Sudan and southern Egypt, living in the Atbai between the Nile River and the Red Sea, north of the Amarar and south of the Ababda. The population is about 42,000...
, Hamad-Orab and Aliyaab tribes and complained of the forced inclusion of 20 villages that had been administered under indigenous civil society structures into 2 Egyptian electoral districts. The letter further complained of the siege of Hala'ib, the fact that its inhabitants live within barbed wire and that anything from Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
is refused entry on the premise that Hala'ib is Egyptian and that the tribes' camels are not allowed to travel and graze for pasture in the ancestral lands of the Bisharin
Bisharin
The Bisharin are a mostly Sufi Muslim tribe of the Beja nomadic ethnic group. They inhabit the eastern part of the Nubian Desert in Sudan and southern Egypt, living in the Atbai between the Nile River and the Red Sea, north of the Amarar and south of the Ababda. The population is about 42,000...
from Hala'ib to the neighbouring River Nile (state)
River Nile (state)
River Nile is one of the 15 wilayat or states of Sudan. It has an area of 122,123 km² and an estimated population of 1,027,534 . It consists of 6 localities Ad-Damir is the capital city of the state...
in Sudan.
Settlements
The major town in the area is Abu Ramad which lies 30 kilometres (18.6 mi) north west of Hala'ib on the Red Sea coast. Abu Ramad is the last destination of the buses that connect the area to Cairo and the other cities of Egypt such as AswanAswan
Aswan , formerly spelled Assuan, is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate.It stands on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract and is a busy market and tourist centre...
, Marsa Alam
Marsa Alam
Marsa Alam is a town in south-eastern Egypt, located on the western shore of the Red Sea. It is currently seeing fast increasing popularity as a tourist destination and development following the opening of Marsa Alam International Airport in 2001....
and Qena
Qena
Qena is a city in Upper Egypt, and the capital of the Qena Governorate. Situated on the east bank of the Nile, it was known as Kaine during the Greco-Roman period and as Cainepolis in antiquity.- Overview :...
. The only other populated place is the small village of Hadarba, south east of Hala'ib town on the coast. Alshalateen is an Egyptian town just on the northern administrative boundary. The closest Sudanese town south of the disputed area is Osief (Marsa Osief), located 26 kilometres (16.2 mi) south of latitude 22, the political border line claimed by Egypt based on the 1899 agreement.
Ecology and geography
In the Hala'ib region, Afrotropical elements have their northern limits at Gebel ElbaGebel Elba
Gebel Elba or Elba Mountain is a peak and, in general, includes the associated mountainous area in the Hala'ib Triangle area. This area, despite being claimed by Sudan, is currently under Egyptian control.-Geography:...
, making it a unique region among Egypt's dominating Mediterranean and North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
n ecosystems. There is also dense cover of acacia
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
s, mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
s and other shrubs, in addition to endemic species of plants such as Biscutella elbensis.
The highest peaks in the area are Mount Elba (1,435 m or 4,708 ft), Mount Shellal (1,409 m or 4,623 ft), Mount Shendib (1,911 m or 6,270 ft) and Mount Shendodai (1,526 m or 5,007 ft). The Gebel Elba
Gebel Elba
Gebel Elba or Elba Mountain is a peak and, in general, includes the associated mountainous area in the Hala'ib Triangle area. This area, despite being claimed by Sudan, is currently under Egyptian control.-Geography:...
mountain area is a nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
declared by Egypt in a decree signed by the former prime minister Ahmed Nazif
Ahmed Nazif
Ahmed Nazif served as the Prime Minister of Egypt from 14 July 2004 to 29 January 2011, when his cabinet was dismissed by President Hosni Mubarak in light of a popular uprising that led to the Egyptian Revolution of 2011...
.
Map
See also
- AnnexationAnnexationAnnexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
- Bir TawilBir TawilBir Tawil or Bi'r Tawīl is a area along the border between Egypt and Sudan which is claimed by neither country. It is sometimes referred to as the Bir Tawil Triangle, despite the area's quadrilateral shape, with the longer side in the north of the area running along the 22° north circle of...
, an adjoining terra nulliusTerra nulliusTerra nullius is a Latin expression deriving from Roman law meaning "land belonging to no one" , which is used in international law to describe territory which has never been subject to the sovereignty of any state, or over which any prior sovereign has expressly or implicitly relinquished...
, claimed by neither Egypt nor Sudan - Wadi Halfa SalientWadi Halfa SalientWadi Halfa Salient is the unofficial name of a salient of the international border between Sudan and Egypt along the Nile River to the north....
- Egypt-Sudan relations
- Foreign Relations of EgyptForeign relations of EgyptEgypt's foreign policy operates along a non-aligned level. Factors such as population size, historical events, military strength, diplomatic expertise and a strategic geographical position give Egypt extensive political influence in the Middle East, Africa, and within the Non-Aligned Movement as a...
- Foreign Relations of SudanForeign relations of SudanThe foreign relations of Sudan are generally in line with the Muslim Arab world, but are also based on Sudan's economic ties with the People's Republic of China and Western Europe.-Chad:...
- Territorial Disputes
