Now this is insulting and stupid beyond belief! A white boi in virginia has went to the Sudan in Africa and laid claim to a large exapanse of land he says is not being used by Sudan to create his own kingdom! Okay enough is enough! We got enough whites in Africa trying to lay claims to OUR land so this has gone too far! Whomever this man paid off to allow him to do this, give him his damned money back and put him on the first plane back to virginia! We have enough white people here! Send him back before he goes any further with this hairbrained scheme that he is taking seriously! People in America think it's chargming, but what it is is another attempt at colonialism! All land in Africa belongs to Africans and if we're not using it righty now, not your fuckin' problem; and not yours to claim! Kick him out now before somebody kills this stupid man and his family and try an blame Africans for it! Get rid of this would be colonialist scumbag immediately and allow no more here like this! This land is for Africans and Africans only!!!! So whomever he paid off to allow this shit, GIVE HIM HIS DAMNED MONEY BACK AND SEND HIM PACKING! NOW!!!!!
I'm a real-life Elsa! Devoted dad founds 'Kingdom of North Sudan' on
unclaimed land in the African desert so he could make his daughter a
proper princess
- American planted a flag in 'no man's land' between Egypt and Sudan
- Jeremiah Heaton promised his daughter Emily he would make her a princess. Emily, seven, says it is 'awesome' to be royalty
- He also wants to build a wants to build a research centre in 'North Sudan'
- Hopes to crowd-fund the ambitious project, which will cost around $2bn
Published:
05:18 EST, 12 May 2015
|
Updated:
09:00 EST, 12 May 2015
A
devoted dad who promised his daughter she would one day become a
princess fulfilled her wish – by declaring a new kingdom in a desert in
Africa.
Jeremiah
Heaton, a farmer from Virginia, and the story of his daughter Emily is a
real-life fairy-tale story - and the movie right have already been sold
to Disney.
'King'
Heaton, a farmer from Virginia, travelled to the 'no man's land' of Bir
Tawil to plant his flag on June 16 last year - Emily's seventh
birthday.
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Jeremiah Heaton and his daughter,
Princess Emily. Jeremiah, 37, claimed Bir Tawil - a barren desert area
between Egypt and Syria - as the Kingdom of North Sudan so his little
girl could become a real princess
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Now 'King' Heaton has launched a
campaign to raise billions of dollars to create The Ark, a state of the
art laboratory in his new nation dedicated to researching how crops
could be grown with limited water supplies
THE HISTORY OF BIR TAWIL
Bir Tawil, meaning 'deep well' in Arabic, is situated south of the border between Egypt and Sudan.
It is located by the strategically-important Hala'ib triangle, a more extensive patch of land with rich soil.
Neither Egypt nor Sudan want to lay claim to Bir Tawil, it is said, because it would mean giving up their claim to the more prosperous triangle.
Egypt use a map created in 1899 to establish its boundary lines, which put the Hala'ib
triangle within its territory. Sudan, in contrast, point to a later map
drawn on treaties settled in 1902, which gives control over the Hala'ib to them.
The
discrepancy has meant Bir Tawil has stayed as a de facto 'no man's
land' for more than 100 years - until Heaton planted his family's flag
into the soil on June 16, 2014 and named it the Kingdom of North Sudan.
Today Heaton, 37, said: 'I started trying to find land that didn't belong to any nation or tribe or government, and discovered Bir Tawil, the only piece of land on earth that is unclaimed', the father-of-three told MailOnline.
'It
didn't belong to Sudan or Egypt, as verified by their maps for the last
100 years, so it was the ideal place to go and create your own
country.
After contacting the Egyptian authorities, Heaton travelled 6,000 miles to claim his 2,000 sq
km new 'state' that he named The Kingdom of North Sudan to plant the
new flag – designed by his family on the back of a placemat in a
restaurant.
He
has since formally applied to the United Nations for observer entity
status - a long and complicated process - and set up an embassy in
Denmark.
But Heaton has now also launched a fundraising campaign to build The Ark, a a state-of-the art laboratory in his hot, barren desert country, called the Kingdom of North Sudan.
He
told MailOnline: 'I asked my children what we should do with the land,
and they said they wanted to grow a garden big enough to feed everyone
in the world.'
He
said his reign will be dedicated to researching how food can be grown
with a limited water supply, as well as other measures to combat the
effects of climate change.
Princess Emily told MailOnline she was delighted to now be part of a 'royal family'.
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A map showing the location of the Kingdom of North Sudan, located just south of the border with Egypt
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Princess Emily of the Kingdom of North
Sudan said she thought it was 'awesome' when she found out her dad had
made her royalty. 'I was proud of him. Now I want the country to be a
really big garden', she said
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Heaton said his bid to create a
laboratory in the desert has already attracted the support of hundreds
of scientists from around the world, who are frustrated by a lack of
governmental support for their research
Asked
why she wanted to be a princess, she said: 'Because I wanted to help
people', adding it felt 'awesome' when her dad told her he had made her
royalty.
'I was proud of him. Now I want the country to be a really big garden that can feed people', said Emily.
But behind
the fairytale story, Heaton explains there is a serious scientific need
to address changes in the climate which are hampering food production
around the ground.
As
a farmer in Virginia, he has first-hand experience of the problems
encountered during seasons of abnormally low or high rainfall as he
tries to grow pumpkins and corn.
'On
the surface it seems like an un-doable idea, but if you look at what we
are facing worldwide, the 'bread basket' areas are getting drier and
drier', he said.
'It's getting harder and harder to grow food, and very little research is being done into the problem.
'If
you can make food grow in the desert, you can take that same technology
and apply it to other climates. This project is the first project on
earth that will one nation dedicated to deal with climate change.
'How we use water is untenable and a different approach has to be taken.'
He
said he's attracted the support of hundreds of scientists from around
the world, who he says are 'frustrated' by their research efforts being
hampered by a lack of funding.
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Jeremiah Heaton with his royal family - wife Kelly, son Justin, 12 (centre), Caleb, 11 (right) and Emily, seven
WHAT'S IN A FLAG? THE EMBLEM OF THE KINGDOM OF NORTH SUDAN
Emblem: The flag of the Kingdom of North Sudan
The
bright-coloured flag of the Kingdom of North Sudan was designed on the
back of a placemat at a restaurant, as the 'royal family' enjoyed a meal
out.
The gold star represents Heaton's wife and mother of his children Kelly, who is 'the top of everything that happens'.
The
three stars represent the children Justin, Caleb and Emily, and their
white colour represents the purity of their hopes and dreams.
The crown represents the monarchy created in the Kingdom, and the rays of light their hopes for improving the world.
Finally the blue symbolises their commitment to their dreams of what their new Kingdom can achieve.
'Research
is very dependent on grants, but within this country they will have
their own laboratory, so scientists won't have to spend their time
bidding for money.
'A
lot of people are frustrated by the lack of government action, but this
will be the one country in the world that is doing everything it can to
ensure research is being done on the problem.'
Heaton
told MailOnline that he has been supported by the Egyptian authorities
in his quest to set up a new community in the land, which only has
around 290mm of rainfall a year. London, by comparison, has around
600mm.
'Our
development goals are shared by Egypt – it is investing heavily in
renewable energy, and water supply is something that the government of
Egypt is struggling with right now. This type of innovation fits in
perfectly with their aims', he said.
'Building
a brand new country from scratch will create employment – there's a lot
of folks that are unemployed in Egypt and if we can help them that's
going to be tremendous.
'I
have not spoken with Sudan – because I am an American, I have a lot
longer road to travel with Sudan because of the economic sanctions that
are in place.'
Heaton has launched a crowd-funding scheme to
help him realise his dream, which hopes to raise $500million initially -
although the final total bill to built a new nation will cost around
four times that, he estimates.
In
exchange for $1.75 million, patrons can name the capital city, while a
donation of $50,000 will buy you the chance to put your face on the
Kingdom's new currency.
The
scale of the project has attracted criticism from academics, who say he
will come unstuck by the practicalities of creating a new country
between two existing nations.
Experts on the region quoted in Al Jazeera argue
that there is 'no way' either Egypt or Sudan would let his scheme get
off the ground, and that any attempt to access water could see him run
into conflict with the neighbouring states.
Speaking
to MailOnline, Dr Kathleen Miller is an expert from the study of
society and environment at the National Center for Atmospheric Research
in Boulder, Colorado.
She
said she hadn't heard about Heaton's ambitious plans but that unusual
droughts were leading to large declines in agricultural output.
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Developing the Kingdom into a fully
functioning nation is 'far fetched', Heaton adds - but it is about
'taking a child's dream and turning it into a reality... my job is to
make this world a better place for my children'
HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN STATE
The
conditions of statehood were laid out in the Montevideo Convention on
the Rights and Duties of States, signed in Uruguay in December 1933.
Article One of the treaty sets out the four criteria for statehood, which say that for a country to be recognised it must have:
1. A permanent population
2. A defined territory
3. Government
4. The ability to enter into relations with another state
For
a country to be recognised by the United Nations as a state, it has to
submit an application to the Secretary General, who will then pass it to
the Security Council for its consideration.
The
permanent members of the council - Russia, USA, Britain, France and
China - can veto the application, but if it passes then a vote is passed
to the General Assembly. Two-thirds of members need to approve the
application before it is passed.
'Unless
he has a good access to ground water, that would mean ground water
mining which is what we are seeing in California at the moment' she
said.
'I
can't say I'm particularly confident about this fellow's chances –
unless he's also planning to draw on ground water that is underlying the
land, because to produce any kind of vegetation you will need some
water.
'The process of organic matter requires a certain amount of water.'
Eric
Reeves, a Sudan expert and English professor at Smith College, said in
1899 the British readjusted the division between Egypt and Sudan, and
that the former still claims the Hala'im Triangle - which most maps show
as belonging to Sudan - is part of Egypt.
He
said: 'The simple fact of the land being unclaimed now says nothing
about its future, depending on Sudan-Egyptian relations and whether or
not there is anything of value underground.
'Mr Heaton's "kingdom" exists only because Sudan and Egypt can't agree on straightening the border line at the point.
'Were
they to do so, the small bulge that is cartographically evident now
would disappear overnight. His vision is, in short, preposterous.
'This
all is sheer fantasy, and were Mr Heaton to make even one serious move
toward "colonising" or "inhabiting" any portion of the Hala’im
Triangle, he would encounter a hostility from Khartoum for which he
clearly has no imagination.'
But Heaton said he is not listening to the scheme's opponents.
'There
are those naysayers with their scepticism who criticise what we are
trying to do, which is eliminate world hunger', he said.
'Every
project of great ambition has its doubters, and that's unfortunate – if
they lack the vision for the future to see what they are trying to do.
'Is
it far-fetched? Absolutely. Time will tell whether this project is
successful, but along the road I'm going to do everything I can to make
this dream a reality.
'It disheartens me greatly to see academics criticising the project but it comes down to money, and if we can raise the money.'
And
achieving the impossible, Heaton added, will inspire his Princess
daughter and sons Justin, 12, who recently won a national science award
in the USA for designing a power plan, and 11-year-old Caleb to
greatness.
'For
Emily, nothing in this world has changed for her', the proud dad added.
'The real legacy will be if I am able to make this become a reality.
'If
she is part of the mosaic of activities that created the solution to
solve world hunger, that's more than any parent can want for their
children.
'It's
about taking a child's dream and turning it into reality. She wants to
help the people in this world, and my job is to make this world a better
place for my children.'
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