In a world where every corner of the earth has a “owner”, there is a surprising exception: the Bir Tawil triangle, 2,060 km² of desert between Egypt and Sudan that nobody wants. Extreme climate, absence of water and resources make it inhospitable, but the real reason is geopolitical: to claim it would mean giving up the nearby Hala’Ib triangle, much richer and more strategic. Thus, at over a century with colonial agreements that traced ambiguous borders, Bir Tawil remains the only true land of none of the planet.
Where is Bir Tawil’s triangle
Bir Tawil’s triangle is between Egypt and Sudan, included in 2,060 km² of desert territory without any natural resource of interest, permanent settlements or important infrastructures.
The region is found in full oriental Sahara and, as we can imagine, the environment is one of the most arid and inhospitable on the planet, characterized by rather extreme climatic conditions.
Summer temperatures, in fact, quietly exceed 45 ° C during the day, while at night they can drop abruptly. The presence of the tropical band reduces humidity to the minimum terms and hot winds contribute to the rapid dehydration of the soil.
The forms of life are those typical of desert biomes: the vegetation is almost absent, apart from shrubs and bushes capable of resisting conditions of extreme dryness and adapted to live in latitudes characterized by double seasonality. The fauna is certainly more widespread: reptiles, small rodents, insects adapted to the desert environment … there are no stable human settlements or fresh water sources.
This territory, although it is located along the border between two states, is not claimed by any of them. Since it does not have a position capable of guaranteeing any strategic, military or economic advantage, it is completely devoid of valuable resources and is not exactly a idyllic place to spend our holidays. But what is the real reason behind the fact that it is a “nobody’s land”?
Because it is a nobody’s land
The origin of this particular geopolitical anomaly dates back to two different moments of border planning in the middle of the colonial period. At the end of the nineteenth century, in fact, the entire region was still in the hands of the British crown: with the Anglo-Egyptian agreement of 1899, the border between Egypt and Sudan was set along the 22nd North Parallel. Three years later, in 1902, the British administration redefined the border on the basis of socio-cultural criteria to satisfy the needs of South Ethnic groups. So, according to the 1899 line, Bir Tawil belongs to Sudan; According to that of 1902, it belongs to Egypt.
To complicate things there is the triangle of Hala’Ib, rich and strategic, which overlooks the Red Sea: its position is to mirror that of Bir Tawil. If Egypt recognized the 1902 line to obtain Bir Tawil, he should however give up Hala’Ib. Conversely, if Sudan was to claim him, he should accept the borders of 1899, who assign Hala’ib to Egypt.
Ultimately, neither States is willing to accept the administrative division that would allow them to claim Bir Tawil, because this would mean granting a much more coveted territory, that of Hala’ib, to its neighbor. For this reason, Bir Tawil remains a land without a state, not claimed by anyone.
