Shalateen, Southern Egypt–The dispute between Egypt and Sudan over the Halayeb Triangle, which straddles the border between the two countries, has flared up again following recent Sudanese claims on the area.
On 30 June, Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir declared that the triangle “is Sudanese, and will stay Sudanese,” according to English-language daily The Sudan Tribune.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit was quick to respond by declaring that Egypt’s southern borders were “well known and well demarcated.” The FM went on to stress the “futility” of reopening the historical dispute.
Since the 1950s, following the independence of Sudan, both countries have laid claim to the triangle, which comprises some 20,500 square kilometers of land at the southern end of the Red Sea. Although the issue flared up intermittently in the 1990s, it has since been relegated to the back burner for the most part–until now.
As it currently stands, Egypt exercises control over the territory, which it has shored up by offering free services–and, in some cases, citizenship–to local tribes in the area.
Halayeb residents say they receive free water and electricity from the Egyptian authorities, while Egypt’s ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) maintains offices in the area. According to one local resident, school children receive free meals from Egytpian authorities, along with a modest daily stipend.
The Egyptian government has also established a special body mandated with handling tribal issues and mediating inter-tribal disputes. Members of friendly tribes in the area, meanwhile, have been granted Egyptian citizenship and national identity cards in many instances.
Further staking its claim to the area, Egypt has recently inaugurated some LE13 million worth of development projects and services in Halayeb, including the construction of schools, roads and housing facilities, according to NDP sources.
In the aftermath of the el-Bashir’s contentious statements, the Egyptian press, especially state-run newspapers, scrambled to run interviews with members of tribes in the area, who stressed their loyalty to Egypt.
Leaders of the local Ababda and Beja tribes, for example–both of which originally hail from Sudan–told Al-Masry Al-Youm that, since the end of Anglo-Egyptian rule over Sudan in 1956, the border had been set at the 22nd parallel, putting Halayeb inside Egypt proper. Many local tribesmen insisted they were Egyptian rather than Sudanese, pointing out that tribal chiefs were often NDP members or deputies in Egypt’s parliament.
Echoing the position of other Egyptian officials, Salah Karar, member of the Beja tribe and head of the NDP in Shalateen–located some 300 km south of Halayeb and the closest point to the triangle–said that Sudan’s decision to reanimate the issue was little more than an attempt to “deflect attention away from other internal matters in Sudan.”
One month before Sudanese presidential elections in April, Khartoum had officially declared Halayeb a Sudanese electoral district, announcing its intention to set up polling stations throughout the territory to allow thousands of Ababda and Beja tribemen to vote. Egyptian independent daily Al-Shorouq, quoting an unnamed Egyptian diplomatic source, reported at the time that Cairo had allowed some polling stations to operate in Halayeb in order to bolster el-Bashir’s electoral prospects.
Mahjoub Faidhul, former aide to the Sudanese president, however, challenges Egyptian claims on the territory, insisting that that the Halayeb Triangle is “Sudanese land.” He told Al-Masry Al-Youm earlier this week that Khartoum had raised a case in 2009 against Egypt’s claim at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), adding that Sudan had renewed its appeal for UN intervention in the dispute in the same year.
Repeated telephone calls to the ICJ and the associated Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) were, however, unable to confirm this.
According to PCA legal secretary Vilamante Blink, cases that are not mentioned publicly or listed on the court’s official website were “confidential.” Blink declined to comment on the Halayeb dispute “because some cases are not open to the public.”
Attempts to reach the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and the Arab League for clarification on the issue were unsuccessful.
The only reference made to possible arbitration by an Egyptian official was made by Mostafa el-Fiqi, head of the foreign relations committee at Egypt’s Shura Council, who, in statements to the press, explicitly stated that Egypt would win the case at the ICJ. But no other official has since followed up on el-Fiqi’s comments, and it remains unclear whether they represented a de facto confirmation that Egypt was even aware of the ICJ case.
Locals in Halayeb and Shalateen, for their part, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the arbitration expected by Sudan would decisively settle the issue. Some, however, expressed anxiety as to what would become of the Egypt-provided services if the court decided the case in Sudan’s favor.
Meanwhile, Halayeb residents and an NDP official from the Ababda tribe told Al-Masry Al-Youm that tribal movements in the triangle were being restricted by Egyptian authorities. Reporters, meanwhile, remain barred by Egyptian authorities from entering the disputed territory.
Shalateen residents said they had heard rumors that the popular camel market–one of the main reasons for the heavy tribal traffic between Sudan and southern Egypt–would soon be relocated to Halayeb. Some of the more cynical locals suggested the move was a “political” one aimed at cementing Egypt’s authority over the triangle.
