The recent kidnappings of seven Egyptian security officials in the Sinai Peninsula is calling attention to increasing lawlessness in the territory. The weakening of the Egyptian government following the 2011 Arab Spring revolution has allowed an influx of terrorists, including Al Qaeda, to establish bases in the Peninsula.
The Sinai has become a hub for terror organizations such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian militant groups, as well as for Al Qaeda. Terror attacks in the Sinai have killed Israelis, Egyptians, and foreign tourists. The result is that – while security has deteriorated throughout Egypt – the situation in the Sinai is uniquely bad:
The Sinai Peninsula, a volatile border area dominated by tribal laws, has witnessed much conflict in the period following the January 2011 uprising. Last August, 16 Egyptian security personnel were killed by unknown assailants at a checkpoint along the Egypt-Israel border. At least four others died in similar attacks in June and July 2012 but no one was held accountable. “The state of security [in Egypt] is generally unstable,” said Sameh Saif El Yazl, the director of the Gomhoreya Center for political and strategic studies. “Sinai’s security is suffering the worst out of all Egypt’s 27 governorates, and in the north especially more than the south.”
The list of grievances harbored by Sinai residents is extensive:
Sinai residents have long complained of neglect by the Egyptian state, and the past two years have seen the impoverished desert peninsula, which is about the size of West Virginia, become a free zone for tribal militias, armed smugglers and bands of Islamist extremists who have attacked police stations and blown up natural gas pipelines. Security officials say the kidnappers seek the release of their comrades who have been jailed for deadly attacks on a tourist hotel and a police station.
The Muslim Brotherhood-linked government in Cairo has attempted to take a relatively soft line in restoring security in the Sinai. If that approach fails to secure the release of the captive security officials, tensions between the government and the Egyptian army are likely to deepen.
[Photo: Wilson44691 / Wiki Commons]
