Sanafir Island

Sanafir Island
Disputed island
Map of Tiran and Sanafir Islands
Geography
Location Red Sea
Coordinates 27°55′48″N 34°42′36″E / 27.93000°N 34.71000°E / 27.93000; 34.71000Coordinates: 27°55′48″N 34°42′36″E / 27.93000°N 34.71000°E / 27.93000; 34.71000
Total islands 1
Area 33 square kilometres (13 sq mi)
Administered by
Egypt
Claimed by
Saudi Arabia
Demographics
Population Uninhabited

Sanafir Island (Arabic: جزيرة صنافير‎ Ğazīrat Ṣanāfīr  pronounced [ɡæˈziːɾɪt sˤɑnɑˈfiːɾ]) is an island in the Straits of Tiran east of Tiran Island. It is administered by Egypt.[1] It measures 33 square kilometres (13 square miles) in area.

On 9 April 2016, the Egyptian government declared that Sanafir and Tiran Island fall within the territorial waters of Saudi Arabia, as codified in the maritime border agreement signed with the government of Saudi Arabia on the previous day. However, the agreement must be ratified by Egypt's Parliament.[2] The deal moves forward the idea of building the Saudi–Egypt Causeway.[3]

History

In World War II, the Egyptian forces on Tiran and Sinafir islands were part of the Egyptian troops protecting Suez canal, according to Egypt's representative at the 659th UN security council meeting on 15th February 1954:[4]

60. A disparaging reference has been made in this Council to Egyptians being on the two islands of Tiran and Sinafir on the Red Sea, islands which had been occupied by Egyptians long before the Israel armed forces advanced to the Gulf of Aqaba a few days after the signature of the Egyptian-Israel General·Armistice Agreement. Here I feel bound to state that the records of the Second World War contain official evidence that Egyptian units had been using these two islands as part of the Egyptian defensive system during that war. Egyptian detachments on these two islands co-operated with the Egyptian air force and the naval units entrusted at the time with the task of protecting Allied shipping in the Red Sea against submarine attack. While Egyptian air force units were covering the coast for Allied shipping in the Mediterranean, a force of 8,000 Egyptian troops undertook the defence of the entire length of the Suez Canal and its ports against continuous, hostile air attacks throughout the Second World War.

In the same meeting, Egypt's representative considered Tiran and Sinafir islands an integral part of the territory of Egypt, since they have been under Egypt's administration since 1906:[5]

132. The Israel representative spoke to us of the islands situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba. He alleged that these islands had been suddenly occupied by Egypt. He read out a declaration of the Egyptian Government transmitted in a letter addressed to the United States Embassy at Cairo. Those islands were not suddenly occupied; they were occupied, may I point out, in 1906. At that time it had been found necessary to delimit the frontiers between Egypt and the Ottoman Empire. With a view to this delimitation, Egypt, for technical reasons, proceeded to occupy the two islands. The occupation was the subject of discussions, exchanges of views and even letters between the Ottoman Empire and the Khedivial Government of Egypt. Consequently, there was no surprise. The islands have in fact been occupied since 1906, and it is an established fact that from that time on they have been under Egyptian administration.

133. While it is true that after relations between Egypt and the Ottoman Empire were broken off these islands became exclusively Egyptian, and that another State was able to initiate discussions concerning the occupation of the two islands; the fact is that that State was Saudi Arabia. An agreement was concluded between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, confirming what I would call, not the annexation, but the occupation of these islands and, what is more important, the recognition that they form an integral part of the territory of Egypt.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://egyptianstreets.com/2016/04/09/egypt-declares-islands-of-sanafir-and-tiran-as-saudi-arabian-territory/
  2. ↑ http://egyptianstreets.com/2016/04/09/egypt-declares-islands-of-sanafir-and-tiran-as-saudi-arabian-territory/
  3. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/08/saudi-arabia-egypt-bridge-red-sea-king-salman-abdel-fatah-al-sisi
  4. ↑ http://www.un.org/es/comun/docs/index.asp?symbol=S/PV.659&Lang=E Security council 659th meeting records p. 10
  5. ↑ http://www.un.org/es/comun/docs/index.asp?symbol=S/PV.659&Lang=E Security council 659th meeting records p. 25
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