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Egypt's Military Seeks to Tame Sinai

(Ha'aretz) Zvi Bar'el - The Egyptian army needs intelligence cooperation from the heads of the Bedouin tribes in Sinai, some of whom make their living from aiding the terrorists. In a recent attack, four Bedouins were killed, with funerals that drew a lot of media attention, but in the meantime calls have not been heard for revenge against the army, or to cancel the agreements for cooperation with the military that were reached with great effort. Many Bedouin supported the Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi in the last election after receiving promises for development budgets - almost none of which were ever carried out. Reports in the Egyptian media say the military is paying the heads of the Bedouin tribes directly to retain their support, but the divisions between and within the different tribes make it difficult to present a united front against the jihadists, who receive their money from donors outside Egypt and from organizations affiliated with al-Qaeda in Yemen and Sudan.
2013-08-12 00:00:00
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