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Bir Tawil: the Stateless Land of Many and No Rulers

July 20, 2023
Bir Tawil, 2019. (Photo credit: Young Pioneer Tours)

To the south of Egypt lies Bir Tawil, a land that is unclaimed by Egypt and Sudan—garnering international curiosity and actively claimed by at least three different ‘kings.’ It is the last non-Antarctic terra nullius, or stateless land, in the world, and it is right on Egypt’s border with Sudan. The land has no permanent population, is largely a resourceless desert, and only measures at 2,060 square kilometers. Both Egypt and Sudan have ignored it, leaving room for adventurous individuals to claim the land as theirs’, such as Jeremiah Heaton who went to Bir Tawil and planted a flag so his daughter could be a princess. The reason for Bir Tawil’s status lies in a neighboring region: the Halayeb Triangle. A decades-long dispute over border demarcations, rooted in the region’s British past, has bound the fates of Bir Tawil and Halayeb together—one cannot be claimed without renouncing the other. Compared to Bir Tawil, the Halayeb Triangle is much more economically appealing. It is larger, measuring at 20,580 square kilometers, rich in minerals and offshore natural resources, and has a permanent population of 27,000 people. Its allure over Bir Tawil has…


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