evidence: The second sector encompasses those areas that connect the two states around the Nile River. This central sector is characterized by the presence of urban and agricultural communities, as well as much of the commercial activity in the border region. Aswan Governorate on the Egyptian side includes more than 1.5 million inhabitants. Halfa is the main city on the Sudanese side of the border in this area, and Sudan’s Northern Province, where Halfa is located, has about 1 million inhabitants.11 Finally, the third sector, further to the west, extends from the Nile to reach the intersection of the borders of Egypt, Sudan, and Libya in the Western Desert. While there is rain in some parts of this border area, notably where the Egyptian army manages large agriculture and land reclamation projects, much of it is very arduous to live in.12 [...] Both the Egyptian city of Aswan and the Sudanese city of Halfa have benefited to an extent from the opening of the crossings.65 They have become way stations for Sudanese or Syrians heading toward Cairo, or for Egyptians and Syrians looking to pass through Sudan before migrating toward Europe after transiting through Libya. Yet the revenues from the new crossings are hardly comparable to those from tourism before 2011 in Aswan, whose major international heritage sites brought Egypt significant amounts of foreign currency.66 [...] 65 "Tadsheen Thany Ma‘bar Barri Bayn al-Sudan wa Masr, wa Ihtijajat fi Halfa ‘ala Iftitahu" [Opening of the Second Border Crossing Between Egypt and Sudan, Protests in Halfa Against It], Sudan Tribune, September 29, 2016, https://www.sudantribune.net/تدشين-ثاني-معبر-بري-بين-السودان-ومصر.