Egypt: Shifting tactics by armed groups curb Sinai development
CAIRO - Egypt is rolling out ambitious development projects in the Sinai Peninsula, which adjoins the Suez Canal, Israel and Gaza, but pockets of instability from armed groups persist despite an intensified military campaign.
Large-scale assaults on military and government positions have subsided but fighters have shifted tactics, staging more individual attacks, deploying snipers, and planting explosives, security sources and analysts say. That these fighters have been able to temporarily overrun villages near Bir alAbd in northwest Sinai this summer shows security remains fragile, while poverty and neglect have not been fully addressed, they say. At least 15 people have been killed by explosive devices around Bir al-Abd since October 10, security sources said, alarming residents and highlighting the risks for development projects. “Eight booby traps went off in houses in our village alone,” said Qalaji, 39, who gave only his surname. “People are afraid to enter their houses.” While southern Sinai is home to the highly secured Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and other tourist spots, much of the rugged peninsula is thinly populated and underdeveloped. An armed uprising spread in northern Sinai after the military overthrew President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013. Hundreds of policemen and soldiers as well as more than 1,000 civilians have died, according to official statements. Sinai Province, an armed group loyal to ISIL (ISIS), has drawn support from local Bedouins complaining of marginalisation, a charge the government denies.
Last month, on the anniversary of the 1973 war with Israel that led to Egypt regaining control of Sinai, the government announced projects to provide social housing, water, roads, industrial zones, education and healthcare. In northeastern Sinai, the army has created a buffer zone and destroyed tunnels that it says were used by smugglers to send weapons and fighters between Egypt and Hamas-run Gaza.
(Al Jazeera)