Libya–Sudan border
Three straight lines across arid desert from the mountain of Jabal ’Uweinat, where Libya, Sudan and Egypt meet. Britain and Egypt handed Italian Libya the Sarra Triangle in 1934 to draw it. Since Sudan’s war began, Sudanese heading for the Libyan oasis town of Kufra have been found stranded in the surrounding desert.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 29 September 2026Suggest a correction
See it on the globe:Libya →Sudan →
The Sarra Triangle
Before 1934 the northwest corner of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan reached west in a triangle, named after the Sarra wells within it, bounded by the 22nd parallel and the 1899 Anglo-French line to the south. An agreement between Italy, Britain and Egypt, completed in Rome on 20 July 1934, transferred the triangle, more than 30,000 square miles, to Italian Libya, and drew the present line: south along the 25th meridian from the Egyptian tripoint in the Jabal ’Uweinat, west along the 20th parallel, and south along the 24th meridian to Chad. It crosses arid wastelands for its whole length.[1]
Toward Kufra
Sudan’s civil war has sent people across the desert toward Kufra in southeastern Libya. In May 2025 a vehicle carrying 34 Sudanese broke down on a smugglers’ route after crossing into Libya from Chad; the group was found in the dunes 11 days later, and 22 were rescued. The Kufra ambulance service said it had responded in 2024 to emergencies involving more than 260 Sudanese found in the desert.[2]
“The survivors were almost about to die.”[2]
Timeline
More borders
Sources
- [1]International Boundary Study No. 10: Libya – Sudan Boundary · US Department of State, Office of the Geographer · 16 October 1961
- [2]Sudanese refugees fleeing war found dead in Libyan desert · Africanews (AP) · 24 May 2025
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.