Virginia man creates African monarchy for his daughter

[The German]

Jeremiah Heaton was playing with his daughter in their Abingdon, Va., home last winter when she asked whether she could be a real princess.

Heaton, a father of three who works in the mining industry, didn’t want to make any false promises to Emily, then 6, who was “big on being a princess.” But he still said yes.

Within months, Heaton was journeying through the desolate southern stretches of Egypt and into an unclaimed 800-square-mile patch of arid desert. There, on June 16 — Emily’s seventh birthday — he planted a blue flag with four stars and a crown on a rocky hill. The area, a sandy expanse sitting along the Sudanese border, morphed from what locals call Bir Tawil into what Heaton and his family call the “Kingdom of North Sudan.”

Va. man plants flag, claims African country, calling it

I honestly find that more cute than stupid.

 

[Beaudreaux]

Va. man plants flag, claims African country, calling it

I honestly find that more cute than stupid.

If I had a daughter, and she wanted to be a Princess, I may have done something similar. Good for him.

I wonder if he'll succeed in getting Sudan and Egypt to agree? I would have loved to have seen the look on the Egyptian's faces when he told them what he wanted to do when he asked permission to travel to the area. I bet it was priceless.

 

[RabidAlpaca]

There's a reason that patch of land is "unclaimed". It's a barren wasteland surrounded by some of the most violent savages on the planet. As king, your claim is only good if you can defend it, and considering he's just some normal guy from Virginia, he won't.

While there's something to be said about making your daughter's wishes come true, I have to disagree and say it's more stupid than cute.

 

[rocket88]

There's a reason that patch of land is "unclaimed". It's a barren wasteland surrounded by some of the most violent savages on the planet. As king, your claim is only good if you can defend it, and considering he's just some normal guy from Virginia, he won't.

While there's something to be said about making your daughter's wishes come true, I have to disagree and say it's more stupid than cute.

There's actually another reason. The border dispute is regarding an adjacent piece of land. Egypt claims a straight line border which puts the adjacent land (the Hala'ib Triangle) in Egypt, and this small piece (Bir Tawil) in Sudan. Sudan claims an old British administrative border which does exactly the opposite. This adjacent land is on the Red Sea and much more valuable.

Neither claim gives either country both pieces of land, and in order to claim Bir Tawil, either Egypt or Sudan would have to give up their claim to the Hala'ib Triangle.