Explorer declares himself 'king' of unclaimed no man's land

The man declared himself king of no man's land
Photo by Levi Jones on Unsplash
Alexandra Richards14 November 2017

An Indian man declared himself king and ruler of an unclaimed strip of land in North Africa after travelling miles to find it.

Suyash Dixit is encouraging people to apply for citizenship for his uninhabited piece of land situated between Egypt and Sudan.

Neither country has claimed the 800 square mile strip named Bir Tawil. It is the only place on earth that people can live that is not owned by a state or country.

Mr Dixit spent two nights in the desert during his journey. He finally reached his destination after persuading a local man to drive him for the last part of the journey.

Speaking to the Telegraph he said: “The route that I took is under Egyptian military (it is an international border) and is an area of terrorists so military have 'shoot at sight' orders."

But he said that he was not afraid of the risk.

“If your Bucket List ideas are not scary enough then they are not worth trying! You need permissions to even enter the route to this place," he said.

“We [had] three conditions; no photos of military areas, be back in a single day and no valuables,” he said.

He has deemed the unclaimed land “Kingdom of Dixit” and has declared himself king.

To cement his title he planted seeds. He said “following the early civilisation ethics and rules, if you want to claim a land then you need to grow crops on it. I have added a seed and poured some water on it today. It is mine.”

He added: “The dawn of our nation begins as a blank slate in an arid, desolate desert. Through the charity of the world community and the disciples of modern science, we will construct the most fertile, ecologically sensitive nation on Earth.”

Despite the fact that Mr Dixit is adamant that he now owns the land, the point remains to be seen.

In 2014 an American traveller tried to claim the same area of land and declare his daughter princess of the “Kingdom of North Sudan”.

Unfortunately his plan failed when it was discovered that under international law in order to claim sovereignty over territory you must be a state not an individual, law expert Anthony Arend told the Washington Post.

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