The Halaib Triangle (or Halaib-Shalateen) is an area of approximately 18,000 square kilometres. The eastern side extends in the form of a triangle from the coast of the Red Sea to the town of Shalatein in the north and approximately 58 kilometres to the south-west as far as Bi'r Manigah and Jabal al-Daygah and to the south as far as Jabal Um al-Tuyur al-Fawgani. 

1899: The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium Agreement signed between the United Kingdom and Egypt defined “Sudan” as “all the territories south of the 22nd parallel of latitude”. The Halaib Triangle lies north of the 22nd parallel. 

1902: Sudan claims that the 1899 agreement was amended in 1902 and 1907, through administrative measures, which it considers to be “agreements” (see letter dated 20 February 1958, S/3963) and that as a consequence of these amendments, Sudan has sovereignty over the Halaib Triangle  (mentioned in the letter dated 17 July 1995 from the  Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sudan, S/1995/587). Egypt acknowledged that “on 26 March and 4 November 1902, the Egyptian Minister of the Interior issued two ministerial decrees placing some of the areas inside the Egyptian international boundary north of the 22nd parallel under Sudanese administration and placing some of the areas inside the Sudanese boundary south of the 22nd parallel under Egyptian administration. That was for humanitarian reasons relating to tribes dispersed on both sides of the international boundary between the two countries and was without prejudice to that line and its status. The Minister of the Interior stated that the goal was to demarcate the areas of the Arab tribes of Egypt and the Sudan for the purpose of administrative work, which emphasizes the provisional administrative nature of these arrangements. Moreover, the person who issued these decisions and the person entrusted with their implementation - the administrator of Aswan - were Egyptian government officials (at that time). Subsequently, in 1907, an Egyptian amendment to the decree of the Egyptian Minister of the Interior of 1902 was issued, terminating the presence of the Sudanese administration in some of the territory included under the decree of the Minister of the Interior of 1902, and this was, in fact, implemented.” (Letter dated January 1993 from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt addressed to the President of the Security Council, S/25051).

1956: Sudan became independent on January 1, 1956, bringing the Anglo-Egyptian administration to an end. 

1958: In a letter dated 20 February 1958 addressed to the UN Secretary General, Sudan protested Egyptian claims over Halaib, noting that “On the 1st of February, 1958, the Egyptian Government sent a note to the Sudan Government wherein she claimed sovereignty over the following Sudanese territories:  (a) the North-eastern part of the Sudan, north of latitude 22 north and (b) that part of the Sudan which is situated north of the town of Wadi Halta, comprising the ,Saras, Debeira and Faras region. The Egyptian note demanded the handing over of these territories to Egypt. Egypt alleges that the said two territories belong to Egypt under the 1899 Agreement concluded between Great Britain and Egypt” (S/3963). 

1991: According to Egypt, tensions started arising due to the granting by the Sudanese Government of a petroleum drilling concession in the administrative district to a Canadian company. Egypt had protested against this (Letter dated January 1993 from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt addressed to the President of the Security Council, S/25051).

1992: Talks were held through a Joint Commission of the two countries to deal with the issue of the Sudanese drilling concession in Khartoum in March 1992 and then in Cairo in October 1992 (mentioned in the letter dated January 1993 from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt addressed to the President of the Security Council, S/25051). 

1993: In a letter dated 11 January 1993, Sudan accused Egypt of committing “aggression” and of “imposing a fait accompli” (S/25090). In a letter dated 14 January 1993, Egypt justified that its security and administrative presence inside Halaib fell within the exercise of “its sovereignty over its territory”, thus rejecting the Sudanese allegations of “aggression” (S/25127). 

In a letter dated 30 May 1993, Egypt acknowledged the existence of administrative decrees which place areas including the Halaib triangle under Sudanese administration but puts forth that this was purely “administrative” measures taken “for humanitarian purposes” and that they confer Sudan “no rights whatsoever over the area” , also claiming that since 1899 “Egypt has never relinquished its sovereignty over the Halaib region” despite the aforementioned administrative functions, and continued “to exercise its sovereignty over the region without interruption”(S/25926). 

1995: In its letters addressed to the President of the Security Council, Sudan acknowledged the existence of “border disputes” (S/1995/544), specifically speaking of one “over the Halaib triangle” (S/1995/534; S/1995/587). Sudan had already described the Halaib triangle as a “disputed area” in a letter addressed to the President of the Security Council dated 31 December 1992 (S/25041)

In a letter dated 11 July, 1995, Egypt rejected the existence of a dispute over Halaib, maintaining that “since Sudan’s accession to independence in 1956, and to date, all the territories situated to the north of the 22nd parallel have been under Egyptian sovereignty” and that “the Sudanese claims disputing Egyptian sovereignty over the Halaib region are devoid of any historical or legal foundation” (S/1995/559). 

2000: In January 2000, it is reported that Sudan withdrew its forces, and Egypt established effective control, which continues.

2009: It is reported that, ahead of Sudan's April 2010 general elections, the Electoral Commission designated Halaib as one of the electoral districts and called on its residents to register as voters. In December 2009, Sudanese presidential assistant Musa Mohamed Ahmed was denied entry into the border area.

2015: Egypt held parliamentary elections in the district of Hala’ib and Shalatin in October 2015. Sudan protested against the elections (mentioned in letter dated 27 November 2015 from the Permanent Representative of the Sudan to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council, S/2015/916). Egypt maintained that it did so “in order to exercise sovereignty over all its territories and fulfill its responsibilities towards its citizens” (letter dated 19 January 2016 from the Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council, S/2016/54).

2016: In a letter dated 21 April 2016 (S/2016/382) addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt, the Sudanese Minister for Foreign Affairs asked his Egyptian counterpart to provide him with the text of the agreement concluded between Saudi Arabia and Egypt regarding the delimitation of the maritime boundaries “inasmuch as that agreement has a bearing on the Sudanese Halaib-Shalatin-Abu Ramad triangle and its territorial waters” mentioning a “dispute between […both] countries regarding the triangle and its territorial waters”. 

2016-2017: In a letter dated 29 April 2016,  addressed to the President of the Security Council, the Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations reaffirmed Egyptian sovereignty over the Halaib and Shalatin triangle (S/2016/408). Egypt reaffirmed this again in a Note verbale dated 20 June 2016 addressed to the Presient of the Security Council (S/2016/559) and again in letters dated 17 April 2017(S/2017/331) and 28 July 2017 (S/2017/648) addressed to President of the Security Council, rejecting allegations of violations made by Sudan.

2018: In a letter dated 14 February 2018 from the Permanent Representative of the Sudan to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council (S/2018/153), Sudan accused Egypt of “perpetuat[ing] their occupation and impos[ing] a fait accompli, in violation of international law, referring to alleged obligations under international humanitarian law that occupying States bare (these accusations were reiterated in a letter dated March 9 2018, S/2018/215). In a letter dated March 19 2018 (S/2018/258) and again in another one dated 26 march 2018 (S/2018/270) addressed to President of the Security Council, Egypt rejected the aforementioned Sudanese claims,reaffirming once again sovereignty over the Halaib-Shalatin area. 

2019-2026: Egypt has consistently reiterated, on a yearly basis, its claims in relation to Halaib. This is evidenced by letters addressed to the President of the Security Council dated 2019 (S/2019/77), 2020 (S/2020/56), 2021(S/2021/44), 2022 (S/2022/24), 2023 (S/2023/38), 2024 (S/2024/63), 2025 (S/2025/60), 2026 (S/2026/65).