[meteorite-list] Gebel Kemil not found anywhere near contested border

From: Jason Utas <meteoritekid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2010 02:00:30 -0700
Message-ID: <AANLkTinFVic9ERK55Rk1KFTALtN6ePZdVG3HYzX_ucgL_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hello David, All,
I don't know who the first person was who claimed that Gebel Kamil was
found in disputed territory (you might check the archives ;), but
that's not the case, at all.
I'm surprised that no one has commented on this sooner, granted that
all of the information is easily accessible online.

A section of the Egypt-Sudan border *is* currently being contested by Sudan.
That area is known as the Hala'ib Triangle:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hala'ib_triangle

Compare with the crater at (plug into google maps or google earth):

N 22?01'06" E 26?05'16"

As you can see, the crater lies approximately 350 miles due west of
the nearest contested land.

And, if you think about it, this kind of makes sense. Why would the
Sudanese government want to fight over an empty stretch of sand?
Well, they don't. They're contesting the right to the arable,
populated land to the east, on/near the Red Sea. They're fighting
over useful land that full of people. How logical...

I think this was a claim initially made by a few dealers who hoped to
make their material a little more appealing; they could say, "Even if
Egypt has outlawed the export of meteorites, it doesn't matter because
these may belong to Sudan."

But...that's not the case. If Egypt did prohibit the export of these
meteorites by law, Sudan doesn't enter into the equation in any way.
The Sudanese aren't contesting the ownership of the land where the
crater lies.
And conversely, if Egypt did not prohibit the export of these
meteorites, they're perfectly legal.

So, yes, the border is contested. But not where these meteorites are from.

I hope this clears that up.

...I'm still trying to figure out why those Egyptian scientists would
have even tried to get some form of approval in order to export 20kg
of material if it were legal to export as much as they wanted from the
start.

I have the feeling that we as a community might be taking advantage of
a country's lesser-understood, and perhaps a little
less-stringently-enforced laws...it wouldn't be the first time.

Best,
Jason


On Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 12:49 PM, David Norton
<renov8hotels at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Am I mistaken or is the location in a region of disputed boundaries? If so,
> the rightful owner has yet to be determined. Additionally, I believe that I
> had previously read that Egypt does not have laws specifically regarding
> meteorites, but has strong laws regarding "artifacts".
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
> [mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Matt Smith
> Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2010 11:40 AM
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Gebel Kemil article in New Scientist
>
> An article on the controversy regarding the recent Gebel Kemil find:
>
> http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727724.000-deep-impact-market-the-ra
> ce-to-acquire-meteorites.html
>
> or
>
> http://bit.ly/ct9U42
>
> Regarding the legal situation it states:
>
> "In Egypt, permission is supposed to be required to export meteorites. Di
> Martino and colleagues were authorised to take just 20 kilograms of Gebel
> Kamil
> out of the country. "Everything which is found in the Egyptian soil is
> property
> of the government," explains Tarek Hussein, who as former president of
> Egypt's
> Academy of Scientific Research and Technology ?was responsible for handling
> export applications until last April. He is concerned that many Gebel Kamil
> fragments that have appeared on the market in the west were not approved for
>
> export."
>
>
> Matt.
>
>
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Received on Fri 06 Aug 2010 05:00:30 AM PDT