In the wake of the Sharm El-Sheikh bombings the opposition renewed its attack on the performance of the Interior Ministry, reports Omayma Abdel-Latif On Sunday the security chiefs of North and South Sinai, Major General Hamdi Ghali and Mohieddin El-Gamal, were replaced. In normal circumstances the move would have been seen as a routine shake-up. But coming barely a day after Sharm El-Sheikh was rocked by three explosions the sacking of the two security chiefs appears, if not an attempt to find scapegoats, at least a move aimed at diffusing growing tensions in the peninsula. That Sinai's most senior security personnel have been removed is also, believe some observers, a tacit admission on the part of the security establishment that security failings had resulted in a failure to foresee threats to the city which, in recent years, has assumed the mantle of Egypt's summer political capital. Certainly the sacking of the two has provided ammunition to the opposition which in recent months has been waging a campaign of criticism against the Interior Ministry's anti- terrorism record. Regardless of the true identity of the perpetrators, the real culprit, as far as the opposition is concerned, could not be clearer. They lay the blame for the tragedy squarely at the door of the Ministry of Interior, and its ineffective handling of security. Hardly surprising, then, that hours after the bombing took place there were renewed calls for the resignation of Interior Minister Habib El-Adly. From across the political spectrum there were calls for him to step down. "When should the minister of interior resign?" "Where were the security bodies when the explosions took place?" The headlines of both independent and partisan newspapers joined in the chorus, many making comparisons with the Luxor massacre in 1997 that cost the then interior minister, Hassan El-Alfi, his job. The opposition was further incensed by the ministry's post-bombing response. Contradictory statements attributed to ministry officials over the identity of the perpetrators only added to the sense of confusion and helplessness that surrounded the attacks. "The handling of the crisis," says Abdallah El-Sinawi, editor-in-chief of Al-Arabi newspaper, "projected an image of a security establishment lacking even the most basic crisis management skills. "The ministry has a dreadful record when it comes to contingency planning," he told Al-Ahram Weekly. "Words of comfort, and the usual rhetoric, cannot substitute for facts. And the most disturbing fact is that there have been four terrorist operations in nine months." El-Sinawi is not alone in believing that the bombings might have been prevented in the absence of security blunders, chief among them the mass arrests conducted in Sinai following October's Taba bombings. The ministry has been accused of using torture against the detainees whose number, according to human rights groups, at one point reached more than 2500. Officials, claim the opposition, also failed to provide adequate reassurance to the public in the wake of the Al-Azhar bombings when little, if any, information was made available on the seriousness of the threat and whether more incidents were likely. Nor, they argue, does the massive deployment of security personnel during pro- reform rallies, when the police often outnumber demonstrators by 10 to one, project an image of a confident security establishment. Hours after the bombings took place 150 MPs asked for an emergency meeting with El-Adly to discuss any security loopholes that had left the city vulnerable to attack. Several MPs, mainly from the Muslim Brotherhood, have repeatedly complained of El-Adly's failure to respond to questions posed in the assembly on the ministry's security policies and the abuses human rights groups say take place against detainees. Officials from the Interior Ministry point out that the security forces are working under extremely difficult circumstances and enormous pressure. And many security analysts argue that it is unlikely the Sharm El-Sheikh bombings could have been prevented. "While not absolving the security apparatuses from responsibility," says Hossam Swelam, an expert on strategic affairs, "we must acknowledge that they are battling against a faceless enemy. They are fighting ghosts, but ghosts that have shown they have a global reach. They can hit everywhere and anywhere, and no one knows where the next attack will be." Major-General Ali Hefzi, former chief of the border guard and an expert on Sinai, thinks it premature to blame the bombings on intelligence failures. "Only after a full inquiry into the attacks will we know whether or not the security bodies failed in their job and missed signs that an attack was being planned," he said. While acknowledging the possibility of deficiencies in date gathering, Hefzi believes it essential the ministry adopt a policy of transparency in explaining what is going on to the public. "If there are sleeping Al-Qaeda cells operating in Egypt they must be frank about it rather than brand them as random groups," Hefzi said. The opposition's main concern, though, is that the government might attempt to clamp down on the reform movement under the guise of defending national security. "The onus remains on the government to prove that its emergency laws are effective enough to prevent any future terrorist attacks," said El-Sinawi.
