Halaib Triangle (مُثَلَّث حَلَايِب)
The Halaib Triangle (also known as Halayeb Triangle) is a 20,580 km² (7,950 sq mi) region on the Red Sea coast in Northeast Africa. The region's main town is Abu Ramad on the Red Sea coast and the 'triangle' got its name from the town of Halaib. The only other inhabited town in the region is Hadarba, which is also on the coast.
It borders at a quadripoint with Egypt, Sudan and the territory of the Bir Tawil. The Halaib Triangle is claimed by both Egypt and Sudan, as a result of a discrepancy between the straight political boundary that was agreed between Egypt and Sudan in 1899 and the administrative boundary established in 1902, which doesn't follow the same lines.
On 19 January 1899, the United Kingdom (UK) and Egypt agreed that 'Soudan' would be the 'territories south of the 22nd parallel of latitude'. On 4 November 1902, however, the UK drew a separate 'administrative boundary', which would better reflect the actual use of the land by the tribes in the region.
Bir Tawil was grazing land used by the Ababda tribe who came from the area around Aswan, so it was placed under the control of Egypt, while the Halaib Triangle was placed under the British governor of Sudan, because its inhabitants were culturally more related to Khartoum.
Nowadays, Egypt claims that the original border from 1899 is the correct one. This would mean that the Halaib Triangle would belong to Egypt and Bir Tawil to Sudan. Sudan, however, stick to the 1902 border, which places the Halaib Triangle in Sudan and Bir Tawil in Egypt. As a result both countries claim the Halaib Triangle, while neither claims Bir Tawil.
After independence of Sudan in 1956 the Halaib Triangle has been considered to be a part of the Sudan's Red Sea State and was included in local elections until the late 1980's. In 1994, the Egyptian military moved in and took over the area as a part of Red Sea Governorate. Egypt has been actively investing in it since then. The country has rejected international arbitration in the matter.
Abu Ramad is the final destination for buses from Cairo and the other cities of Egypt, including Aswan, Marsa Alam and Qena.
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