Reasons for protests by Bedouins in Sinai still stand, Amirah Ibrahim reports Just as Sinai's Bedouins hoped the authorities were becoming more responsive to their demands government officials have signalled a change of tack in dealing with unrest in the peninsula. Early in December, following a visit by the People's Assembly's Defence and National Security Committee to investigate November's clashes between security forces and Bedouins, a change in the official tone seemed to suggest the authorities were willing to accommodate at least some of the Bedouin's demands. They include the immediate release of all Bedouins detained without charge, the cancellation of court judgements against Bedouins tried in absentia and based on what many claim is trumped up evidence, the suspension of any shoot-to-kill policy in Sinai and of security forces using women and children as hostages, legal title to tribal lands and a reduction in the punitive interest rates charged by the state-owned Agricultural Credit Bank to Bedouin farmers. Then Mohamed Shousha, the governor of North Sinai, moved to co-opt Bedouin tribal heads while security officials announced tougher procedures against those who rioted and clashed with police. When, on Monday, a North Sinai court extended the detention order on two Bedouins by 15 days, more than 1,000 Bedouins gathered at Al-Agra to protest against the decision and call on the government to negotiate over their grievances. "We ask President Mubarak to fulfill his promise to help the people of Sinai," said Mohamed El-Menie, the Sawarka tribe representative who read out the statement. "As Bedouin citizens in the Egyptian state we demand protection from the arbitrary policies of the security forces." While the statement allowed a month for the government to respond, the list of requests was shorter than in previous announcements and no longer included legal title to tribal lands of the demand that police officers implicated in the alleged deaths and torture of Bedouin face trial. Violent clashes first broke out in North Sinai on the evening of 11 November after a Bedouin was shot and killed and another injured when, police say, they refused to stop at a checkpoint. In the subsequent protests 80 policemen were temporarily abducted and an unspecified quantity of weapons seized. Three Bedouins were killed during the violence and additional police troops were ordered to the area. A few days after the People's Assembly committee members' visit security authorities released a list of 200 Bedouins suspected of criminal acts and for being opposition activists. The harder line being taken by the security forces was led by Interior Minister Habib El-Adli. "We will not allow a minority in Sinai involved in illegal activities, smuggling and the prohibited trade of drugs and weapons, to continue their activities," said El-Adli in a meeting with senior security officers. "They damage the image of the majority of honourable citizens in Sinai." "Fabricated confrontations with the security forces and claims that they are to defend the interests of Sinai tribesmen will no longer be tolerated," he continued. Sinai's Bedouin had no doubts how they should interpret El-Adli's message. Where not long ago any protests by Bedouin were denounced as treason, now they are being branded criminal, while threats of forced "relocation" to unspecified areas have been replaced with the spectre of detention in police cells. Demonstrations again broke out in central Sinai by Bedouins to protest against the list of names which, they said, contained children as young as 11. Two armoured police vans were damaged in the confrontation, and police mistakenly opened fire on a Multinational Forces vehicle. "Security forces attempted to delay Monday's gathering," says Bedouin leader Moussa Salman. "They tried to coerce tribesmen into boycotting the meeting. Many people spent days in the mountains fearing they would be arrested if they remained at home." Over the past two weeks the governor of North Sinai has been busy trying to persuade tribal leaders to ban members of other tribes from using their lands for demonstrations, particularly in areas close to the borders with Gaza and Israel. It is a strategy that has seen some success. Suleiman Mughnim, an Sawarka tribal sheikh, warned tribesmen to avoid participating in demonstrations and other organised protests. Three clans affiliated to the Rumaylat and Al-Tarabin tribes made similar announcements, attacking anti- government statements and affirming their commitment to national security. "The aim is to stigmatise any Bedouin who protests against security abuses as a criminal," says Ashraf Hefni, secretary of the Public Committee for Citizens' Rights. "The authorities are seeking to dissuade tribal leaders from offering shelter to any dissenters, and are branding those who are pressing for Bedouin rights to be recognised as thieves, drug traffickers and murderers." The Public Committee announced it will convene a public meeting on 15 January to discuss future strategy in pressing their demands. In the last two years Bedouins have demonstrated regularly against what they say is systematic mistreatment by the police who routinely carry out arrests in North Sinai, arbitrarily withdraw vehicle licences and search homes without warrants. Following the bombings that took place between 2004 and 2006 in Dahab, Taba and Sharm El-Sheikh, security forces made sweeping arrests, detaining thousands of Bedouin, many for years, without charges or trial and, according to Egyptian and international human rights organisations, regularly torturing prisoners.
