Talk:Hala'ib Triangle

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[edit] Map

Searching high and low failed to yield a decent map of the Hala'ib Triangle showing towns, cliams, borders etc., so for the time being I've used the maps of Sudan & Egypt, which show this infomation. Obviously this isn't ideal however, so if there's a map out there, please stick it on. Grunners 23:23, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Yes, a new map would be preferable. It's very difficult to locate the triangle at the size of the thumbnail on the page. Pimlottc 20:02, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] It is not unclaimed, it is called Bir Tawil

There appears to be a small piece of unclaimed territory to the southwest of the triangle - anyone know anything about this, is it worth mentioning in the article, is it notable, etc —Random832 15:38, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

That's something I've been wondering about for years. I used to imagine it as land that each party would say belonged to the other, making it a lawless area. Any information on claims and actual control would be appreciated. – Wikipeditor 18:42, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

[1] seems to indicate it is administered by Egypt - but, then, it claims the triangle itself is administered by Sudan, too. —Random832 19:40, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

That piece of land is called Bir Tawil or transliterated more exactly, like on some maps, Bi'r Tawīl, named after a water well in the center that area (detailed maps and sat images show no settlements, so the area is probably uninhabited). It was always shown as part of Egypt on maps, and is also in fact controlled by Egypt, although probably claimed by Sudan since it is south of 22° parallel. It also contains the southernmost point of Egypt, since it is the only Egyptian territory south of the 22° parallel. I bothered to measure around there with Wikimapia Geotools. The area is between 46 km (in the south) and 95 km (in the north) long east-west, and between 26 and 31 km wide north-south. It has an area of 2060 km². The southernmost point appears to be 21°43′30″N, 33°33′50″E.--Ratzer (talk) 19:50, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

After an e-mail exchange with a Wikimapia-contributor from Egypt, I come to this conclusion: Egypt claims the original border from 1899, the 22nd circle of latitute, which would place the Hala'ib Triangle within Egypt and the Bir Tawil area within Sudan. Sudan however claims the administrative border of 1902, which would put Hala'ib within Sudan, and Bir Tawil within Egypt. Which means, both countries claim Hala'ib, and no country claims Bir Tawil (which is only a tenth of the size of Hala'ib and is landlocked). It seems unter international law there is no legal basis for Sudan or Egypt to claim both territories. Then this would be the only land area of the world outside Antarctica which is not claimed by any country. It would also be difficult if not impossible for any third country to claim the area, since it is accessible only through Sudan or Egypt.--Ratzer (talk) 15:29, 12 June 2008 (UTC)