Denmark, Canada agree to end half-century-old dispute on uninhabited Arctic isle: Report

By Ahmet Gencturk

ANKARA (AA) - Denmark and Canada agreed to end the nearly half-century-old dispute regarding an uninhabited Arctic isle, a UK-based daily reported Tuesday.

The two countries will divide the barren rock with no mineral reserves, according to the Glasgow-based The Herald.

A border will be drawn across the half-square-mile Hans Island, which lies in the waterway between the northwestern coast of the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland and Canada's Ellesmere Island.

"It sends a clear signal that it is possible to resolve border disputes ... in a pragmatic and peaceful way, where all the parties become winners," said Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod.

Canada and Denmark agreed in 1973 to create a border through the Nares Strait, halfway between Greenland and Canada, but were unable to agree which country would have sovereignty over Hans Island, about 684 miles south of the North Pole.

Eventually, they decided to work out the question of ownership later.

In 1984, Denmark's minister of Greenland affairs raised a Danish flag on the island, buried a bottle of Danish schnapps at the base of the flagpole and left a note saying: "Welcome to the Danish island."

Canadians then planted their flag and left a bottle of Canadian brandy.

The countries have since have had turns in hoisting their flags and left bottles of various spirits in tit-for-tat moves.​​​​​​​