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In Egypt's Sinai, Violence Poses New Challenge for Peacekeepers
(Washington Post) Ernesto Londono - A U.S.-military-dominated peacekeeping force of 1,650 troops in Egypt's Sinai is finding itself caught between restive Bedouin tribesmen and an escalating Egyptian army offensive against insurgents. At least one of the militant groups operating in Sinai has called for the expulsion of U.S. troops from the peninsula. "We're now confronted by a population that was once passive and peaceful and has now turned belligerent," said Agustin Espinosa, the Uruguayan ambassador in Cairo, whose country has the fourth-largest contingent in the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO). In recent months, Bedouin tribesmen in Sinai have held up convoys of international troops, refusing to let them pass until Egyptian authorities release imprisoned relatives.