Hala'ib Triangle
22.4691666735.52305556Koordinaten: 22 ° 28 ' 9 " N, 35 ° 31' 23" E
The Halaib Triangle (Arabic مثلث حلايب Muthallath Halāyib, DMG Muṯallaṯ Ḥalāyib or حلائب / Hala ʾ ib ) is a disputed territory that is claimed by the states of Egypt and Sudan.
Geography
The Hala'ib Triangle is located in the south -east of Egypt on the Red Sea and covers an area of 20,580 square kilometers. The land is mountainous interior desert ( highest elevation about 1744 m) and crossed by wadis. The mountain ranges running towards shore in a sandy plain. A vegetation are scanty ( acacia and low grasses ) or non-existent. The 260 km long coastal strip bordered by tropical coral reefs and some offshore islands. The area is beautifully seen in Nubia. 30 km from the border with Sudan is 20 to 25 km inland of the Gebel Elba, which is eponymous for the Gebel Elba - National Park. The entire area, with the exception of the extreme West, part of the Gebel Elba National Park, which also extends north of the area. The few inhabitants are mostly Nubians.
The eponymous place Hala'ib has about 1000 inhabitants. 20 km north of it was in the Middle Ages, the port city Aidhab. Main town of the area is Abu Ramad, which lies 30 km northwest of Hala'ib on the coast of the Red Sea. Abu Ramad is the last stop of the bus routes that connect the area with Cairo and other Egyptian cities such as Aswan, Marsa Alam and Qena. A third place is the small village Hadarba, southeast of Hala'ib on the coast. Shalateen is an Egyptian city lies on the northern administrative boundary. The field closest Sudanese town is Osief ( Marsa Osief ), 26 km south of the 22nd parallel of north, the claimed political frontier of Egypt.
The designation of the area as a triangle is a gross generalization. Only the long, 290 -km-long southern border, which follows the 22 latitude, is a straight line. While the whole area is north of 22 latitude, closes at the westernmost point, but south of the 22nd parallel, the smaller area Bir Tawil on which was placed under Egyptian administration, but today neither of Egypt is still claimed by Sudan. Thus, the westernmost point of the Hala'ib Triangle is also the easternmost point of the Bir Tawil area. Finally, it was also the Wadi Halfa Salient, a finger-like protrusion Sudanese territory to the north along the Nile, placed under Sudanese administration, so that the administrative border between Egypt and Sudan in three cases on the latitude 22 ° North is different.
History
1899, the border between the Anglo -Egyptian Sudan and Egypt in the Anglo -Egyptian condominium Convention at the 22nd parallel was established. However, access to Hala'ib triangle and thus the management of the local population was from Sudan easier was that 1902 set a new, expanded northwards, administrative boundary in an ancillary agreement original agreement by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the einbezog the Hala'ib triangle in the Sudanese government Area.
1956 said Sudan against the wishes of then Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser its independence and claimed the demarcation of 1902. Egypt reported under the contract of 1899 rights to the area and denied the legitimacy of the Sudanese border demarcation. In a referendum held in 1958 Egypt wanted to take a vote of the people Hala'ib triangle, after which the Sudanese foreign minister accused the UN Security Council, but which did not reach a decision. In the same year Gamal Abdel Nasser sent troops into the Hala'ib Triangle, drew this but shortly afterwards returned.
The area of the triangle Hala'ib remained until 1992 under Sudanese control. In February 1992, Sudan announced that it has awarded exploration rights for the waters of the Hala'ib triangle at a Canadian oil company, which described Egypt as unlawful. To clarify the situation, negotiations were started, but the oil companies withdrew from the contract, to the sovereignty had been clarified over the area. In April 1992 there was a border incident. Two Egyptian military vehicles attacked a Sudanese border post, killing two policemen and wounding four others. President Hosni Mubarak was sorry and promised compensation. Both sides played down the incident, but stressed to want to give up any square inch of land.
In January 2000, Sudan withdrew its troops from Hala'ib from the triangle and thus ceded control of the territory to Egypt. This was followed by an occupation of the area by Egyptian troops.
However, the president of Sudan Omar Hasan Ahmad al -Bashir said in the course of construction of Egyptian settlements in the north of the territory in 2004 that Sudan spite of the withdrawal of its troops and Egyptian control of the Hala'ib Triangle still legally entitled to the 've territory.
Currently (as of 2006) to operate the customs post at the northern border with Egypt by the military of both countries together. However, the departure of Sudanese to Egypt and vice versa is not possible in this way. There is a special scheme for Sudanese traders on the northern border town of Bir Schalatain.
Although no settlement in the dispute over this area is foreseeable, there are already some cooperation: The territory is covered by the wireless network between the two countries and as currency is both the Sudanese and the Egyptian pound. Since 2005, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism has released the Hala'ib triangle for tourism.