No Men's Land

 Blog#7

                            Bir Tawil                                                       No men’s Land

 

Abstracts:

                       Bir Tawil is a land piece between Egypt and Sudan, of area equiavalant to London or Luxemburg, which is not accepted by any of the countries. Egypt says that Bir Tawil belongs to Sudan and Sudan even says that Bir Tawil belongs to Egypt. It is quite interesting for us to hear about this situation. Some people go over there several times and declare the land as their own country; however the land is not accepted as a country internationally.

 

Introduction:

Bir Tawil

                       Some facts about Bir Tawil:

                        Area:    2060 square kilometers

                        Climate: very hot desert type climate

                        Hottest Months: June to August

                        Coldest Months: December and January

                                       

A disputed area between:

Egypt

Some facts about Egypt:

Capital:           Cairo

Area:              1001.4 thousand square kilometers

Population:   10.14 crores

Currency:       Egyptian Pound

GDP:               362 Billion

 

Sudan

Some facts about Sudan:

Capital:         Khartoum

Area:              1.86 Million square kilometers

Population:  4.49 crores

Currency:      Sudanese Pound

GDP:               33.9 Billion

 

History

                       Egypt was under the control of Ottoman Empire till the end of 18th century. The Empire gave freedom to Egypt to handle the relational and local affairs themselves; and hence Egypt invaded and captured the present day Sudan and South Sudan, the area under the influence of Ottoman Empire. Egyptians declared the area of Sudan and south Sudan as their own territory.

 

Anglo-Egyptian War

                       Suez Canal was an important business route for the counties to transport the materials from Europe and western countries to the Indian Subcontinent as well as Africa and other eastern nations/territories. Therefore, the British people planned to take over the authority of this Suez Canal and it was possible only when they conquer Egypt; Eventually an Anglo-Egyptian War (1882) started between the British Empire and the Ottoman Empire, which established a firm influence of the British Empire over Egypt, also accepted by Ottoman Empire which was already in fossilized situation.

                      However, this victory of British Empire upon Egypt came with many internal problems also as there was a situation of unrest in Sudan against Egypt for having an independent identity. In year 1899, to overcome this problem Britishers drew a straight line between Egypt and Sudan as a boundary line to separate both the countries. Since Hala’ib Triangle was full of natural resources such as natural gases and fossil fuels, it also had a coastal area with many geopolitically important ports; which came under Egypt, so it was a satisfactory factor for Egypt to accept the land and hence Egypt was happy. But, on the other side, Bir Tawil was negligibly populated and even it was barren and deserted, was enough reason to be rejected by Sudan, hence Sudan was not satisfied with this boundary marking. Due to this unplanned division, a big territory of Hala’ib Triangle came within the boundary line of Egypt but this area belonged to Sudan and the ethnicity of the population of this area was also Sudanese, hence Sudan raised his voice against this partition aggressively. The British rule came under pressure and again drew another boundary line in the year 1902; According to new boundary line the area of Bir Tawil came under the Egyptian part and the Hala’ib Triangle came in the Sudan’s Jurisdiction. However, it was a pragmatic approach to solve this boundary dispute but Egypt was not ready to lose the prosperous area of Hala’ib Triangle and she denied to accept the newly drawn boundary line and emphasized to stay with the former boundary made in 1899.


 

Dispute

                       After the independence of Egypt and Sudan in years 1952 and 1956 respectively, Egypt forcefully captured the area of Hala’ib Triangle on the basis of boundary line drawn in year 1899. If Sudan accepts Bir Tawil as their land piece; it simply means that Sudan is accepting that the line marked in the year 1899 is the valid boundary line between both the countries; however, Sudan accepts the second boundary line drawing made in 1902. According to this the area of Bir Tawil falls under the jurisdiction of Egypt. Hence she also denied for taking over the possession of this land.

 

Current Situation

                       At present, both the countries agreed to put aside the dispute and get the economic benefits of Hala’ib Triangle. However the area is still in the jurisdiction of Egypt but both the countries are extracting minerals and natural fuels combined from Hala’ib Triangle and dividing the profit equally among them. South Sudan got freedom from this dispute when partition happened in Sudan in 2011 and South Sudan came into existence.

 

Conclusion:

                     A dispute arose due to impractical moves taken by the Britishers. It shows how they take the emotional and national integrity of the people of their colonies and territories on the lighter note or they did such activities intentionally. This is not a single problem exits due to their deeds; but till now, there are many disputes all around the world under their rule. The dispute and massacre of Bharat Pak division is another example of their inefficacy and ignorance.

                    However, in the above case both the countries have find a middle path to get benefit of the disputed land for their current economic prosperity, which can be considered as a wise move. This is even a lesson for the several countries to learn how they can give priority to their present situation over the long-term dispute and loss aftermath.

         


        Total Words: 900 Approx.

        Sources of Data:

Wikipedia

World Bank websites

Other course materials

Static Times websites

Google and other websites

                        

Location: Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

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