Insecurity in Sinai and Beyond
As the world marks the fifth anniversary of the protest that launched the Egyptian uprising, Egypt’s military-led government is undertaking heavy-handed counterterrorism measures in the Sinai Peninsula as part of its broad-gauged “war on terror.” Yet Wilayat Sinai, the most active armed group in Egypt today, has claimed responsibility for an array of deadly attacks, including the October 2015 downing of a Russian charter plane. Why has Cairo failed so spectacularly to contain Sinai-based terror? Read more in the new policy paper by our Associate Research Fellow Helena Burgrová, published by DGAP (Deutsche Gesselschaft für Auswärtige Politik).
Since the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, Egypt has seen a dramatic increase in terrorist attacks. The country’s military-led government has undertaken massive counterterrorism operations in the Sinai Peninsula, where professionalization of terrorism has risen sharply in recent years. These include shoot-to-kill policy at checkpoints, curfews, the destruction of tunnels, and the arrest of suspected terrorists. The government has evacuated entire residential areas and started building a buffer zone along the border with Gaza. Its harsh crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and the repression of any form of public dissent has also been at the core of its fight against terrorism. However, terrorist attacks still plague Egypt almost on a daily basis, and terrorism in Sinai has taken on particularly dire proportions. Why is the Egyptian government failing.
Find out more in the policy paper by Helena Burgrová.
