Reclaiming Sinai

Egypt Today (Jeff Neumann)

Because it is such a slow news day I hope that I'll be forgiven for sliding in this piece about a programme being carried out in Sinai to improve matters for the tribal Bedouin who still live there. This is quite a long article (nearly four pages of A4 when I printed it out in printer-friendly format). If it seems familiar there was something similar on Al Ahram a couple of months back.

The Bedouin tribes of Sinai have been marginalized in the race for development since Egypt regained the peninsula from Israel in 1982. In those 26 years, countless resort chains have popped up along the southern shoreline, tainting this historical and spiritual land.

Besides being generally shut out from the rest of Egyptian society, the Bedouin have also received a lot of vitriol for what some see as collaboration with Israel during the years of occupation. The string of bombings in Taba, Sharm El-Sheikh and Dahab between 2004 and 2006 certainly didn’t help their standing. Local tribesmen were largely blamed for the attacks, or at the very least assisting the attackers, resulting in the arrest and incarceration of well over 1,000 Bedouin over the two years.

Now, under a robust European Union (EU) initiative fueled by ¤55.5 million (LE 466 million), the tribes of South Sinai have a chance to turn their fortunes around. Started in 2006, the South Sinai Regional Development Programme (SSRDP) is set to be completed by 2010 and in theory will provide the local population with the means to sustain itself for generations to come.

The program is divided into two phases, or “components.” Component One comprises extensive infrastructure projects, such as the new water pipeline from Suez to St. Katherine, worth a total of ¤34 million (LE 286 million). Component Two is the dispersal of grants worth ¤20.5 million (LE 172 million), of which some will go to Sheikh Sina, the organizers of my hike.