Sinai: Egypt sends in more forces.
Following the incident at Rafah and other armed confrontations President Morsi has acted decisiviely against islamic extremists and Bedouin tribes involved in the confrontation. He has sacked his intellegence chief, the governor of Sinai and the commander of the presidential guard.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Sinai-Egypt-sen...
Take a desert country with a population that feels alienated and sidelined by its government add islamic jihad and a ready weapons supply and jihadis to train young unemployed youths to fight against a government they see as unjust. This is pretty much Al Qaeda's operational strategy for North Africa and it is what they did in Afghanistan and Pakistan. After 9/11 some of the first targets for American forces were Al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan. There are training camps now in Sinai and elsewhere in the Sahel. The terrorists like big remote open spaces.
The Bedouin tribes in Sinai have felt neglected and Egypt's flourishing tourism along the Red Sea coast with centres in Hurhada and Sharm el Sheikh has reinforced that feeling of isolation which saw the bombings in Sharm El Sheikh in 2005. The problem has been building for a long time and during the revolution against Mubarak the police presence in Sinai dropt and the lawlessness and chaos increased. Weapons flooded in from Libya.Tourists were kidnapped for ransom and the gas pipeline from Egypt to Israel was blown up, fifteen times. The proximity to Israel and Gaza increases the danger of sparking a war. It is a volatile region.
As well as the tanks, troops helicopters, jets and missiles President Mohammed Morsi will have to deal with the Bedouin population having separated them from the islamist terrorists ,which will be no easy task as they are now embedded in the local population. President Morsi has proved himself to be a decisive leader and not afraid to work with and confront military leaders. The mild mannered presidential candidate whom they fought would just be a puppet for the Muslim Brotherhood has proved he is no such thing.
North Africa faces the same terrorist scourge which threatens the region and its leaders need to come together to combat it as they are now recognising . The other factor is that the flow of arms from Libya has to be stopped and the new Libyan government when it is elected with the help of its allies has to secure the armouries which have been openly looted since Gadaffi's death.
The Bedouin tribes in Sinai have felt neglected and Egypt's flourishing tourism along the Red Sea coast with centres in Hurhada and Sharm el Sheikh has reinforced that feeling of isolation which saw the bombings in Sharm El Sheikh in 2005. The problem has been building for a long time and during the revolution against Mubarak the police presence in Sinai dropt and the lawlessness and chaos increased. Weapons flooded in from Libya.Tourists were kidnapped for ransom and the gas pipeline from Egypt to Israel was blown up, fifteen times. The proximity to Israel and Gaza increases the danger of sparking a war. It is a volatile region.
As well as the tanks, troops helicopters, jets and missiles President Mohammed Morsi will have to deal with the Bedouin population having separated them from the islamist terrorists ,which will be no easy task as they are now embedded in the local population. President Morsi has proved himself to be a decisive leader and not afraid to work with and confront military leaders. The mild mannered presidential candidate whom they fought would just be a puppet for the Muslim Brotherhood has proved he is no such thing.
North Africa faces the same terrorist scourge which threatens the region and its leaders need to come together to combat it as they are now recognising . The other factor is that the flow of arms from Libya has to be stopped and the new Libyan government when it is elected with the help of its allies has to secure the armouries which have been openly looted since Gadaffi's death.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Sinai-Egypt-sen...