A grim reality has dawned on Egyptians in recent weeks, shattering the idyllic image long cherished about Sinai. The peninsula is sliding into lawlessness.
Like several parts of Egypt, Sinai was gripped by turmoil in the wake of the popular uprising that toppled Mubarak. Several security facilities were targeted in Sinai where a pipeline carrying gas to Israel and Jordan was also bombed at least 15 times.
But while the security scene has relatively improved in most of Egypt in recent months, it has worsened in Sinai. Sixteen Egyptian soldiers were killed in an attack in August on their outpost in Rafah near the border with the Palestinian Gaza Strip and Israel.
The onslaught, the worst since 1973 when Egypt mounted a surprise attack on Israel to liberate Sinai, prompted the Egyptian army to mount a massive campaign against Islamist militants suspected of involvement in the soldier killings.
Three months after the campaign got under way, there are sketchy details about how it fares. A surge in attacks against security buildings and personnel in northern Sinai shows that there is more to be done in order to re-establish the country’s sovereignty over the peninsula, which makes up nearly one third of Egypt’s total area.
Earlier this month, three policemen were killed in an attack on their patrol in el-Arish, the main city of northern Sinai. Days later, a senior security official was injured in an ambush in the same area.
What is really going on in Sinai? This question is being asked in Egypt (and probably abroad), reflecting growing concerns about the situation there.
Egyptians are worried that they may wake up one day to find out that Sinai, eulogised as the “land of turquoise is lost to terrorists or self-styled jihadists (holy warriors). The area is believed to have become a magnet for Bin-Ladenists who were flushed out from Afghanistan, Yemen and Iraq .
They are joining forces with local insurgents to loosen the Egyptian state authorities‚ hold on Sinai. The alleged Jihadists apparently possess sophisticated weaponry and take advantage of the mountainous nature of Sinai to establish a safe haven for themselves there.
Dozens of illegally built tunnels between Gaza and Sinai also provide an easy route for them to move and evade detention. (Local media has said that a maze of such tunnels are still in operation despite official statements that they were blocked in the wake of the deadly August attack on soldiers.)
Feeling vulnerable, policemen in northern Sinai this month took to the streets following their colleagues killing. The protesters demanded authorities to better equip them so that they would defend themselves against terrorists described by one security official as invisible enemies. More army troops have been deployed across the area in the aftermath of the recent assaults obviously to re-establish security. And there’s the rub.
The spike in attacks on police forces is obviously aimed at devolving the security job to the army, thereby distracting the military from its core job of securing the nation borders. This may be a prelude to a war of attrition, which could put the whole national security at risk.
It is not clear what makes the insurgents tick and who is behind them. Egypt is in the throes of economic, political and social rebirth. The warlords in Sinai apparently tap in the discontent felt by many locals about decades of negligence and marginalisation they suffered under Mubarak.
Almost two years post-Mubarak, the Sinai people say things are not better. The government of the incumbent President Mohammed Morsi seems complacent about leaving the task of driving out the terrorists to the army. This is a grave blunder.
Government officials need to leave their air-conditioned offices in Cairo and go to Sinai to implement immediate plans that would drastically develop the area, which is rich in natural resources.
Sinai itself may help solve Egypt’s chronic problems of overpopulation and unemployment if it is optimally utilised.
The situation brooks no further delay. Doing nothing for Sinai other than singing its praises would only make it Egypt’s Tora Bora
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The Egyptian Gazette