Explorer crowns himself ‘king’ of unclaimed territory

An intrepid explorer has proclaimed himself “king” of Bir Tawil, a small stretch of deserted no man’s land between Egypt and Sudan.

Indian national Suyash Dixit travelled to the unclaimed 800 sq mile region. Upon his arrival, he planted a specially made flag to “found” the Kingdom of Dixit and planted some seeds.

He had faced a “perilous journey after spending two nights planning his trip into the desert and convincing a local driver to take him to the remote outpost”, The Daily Telegraph says.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

“The route that I took is under Egyptian military control and is an area of terrorists so military have ‘shoot-at-sight’ orders,” Dixit said. “But if your bucket list ideas are not scary enough then they are not worth trying.”

Bir Tawil is the only place on Earth that remains unclaimed, due to a mapping anomaly dating back to the days of British rule over the region.

The 1899 Anglo-Egyptian Condominium Agreement for Sudan used the 22nd parallel to create a straight border between Sudan and Egypt. This gave Egypt control of the significant Red Sea port of Hala'ib and left the entirely empty Bir Tawil on the Sudanese side.

However, the border was deemed unrepresentative of tribal use of the area and a new one was drawn in 1902, giving Sudan control of Hala'ib and switching control of Bir Tawil to Egypt.

As both countries argue sovereignty over what is now known as the Hala'ib Triangle, to claim Bir Tawil as their own would be seen as an acknowledgment that they no longer have rights over the far more valuable land. As a result, Bir Tawil remains the only border anomaly where neither side wishes to claim it.

“King” Dixit is not the first person to anoint themselves leader of Bir Tawil. In 2011, Jack Shenker of The Guardian also planted a flag in the region to claim control, followed three years later by American Jeremiah Heaton, who declared his rule “to fulfil a promise to his seven-year-old daughter that she could be a princess”, writes the Daily Telegraph.

However, the Washington Post reports that both Egypt and Sudan would need to recognise any claim to the region and these can only be made by extant recognised states, not individuals.