CAIRO: Egypt's Sinai Bedouin population has been granted $10.8 million to improve standards of living for over 80,000 Bedouin who live on the peninsula, according to reports in local press. It comes on the back of years of unrest among the Bedouin tribes in the area who have demanded the government intervene to end the “double-standards” that often exist between Cairo policy and the realities on the ground. On Monday the Minister for Housing, Utilities and Urban Development, Eng. Ahmed al-Meghrabi, announced the grant, which will be funded jointly by the UN World Food Programme and the Egyptian government, whilst outlining how the money will be used. The bulk of the money is to be spent constructing 1000 new homes, with additional money set aside for the construction of wells, dams, and reservoirs to improve the availability of clean water in the mountainous Sinai desert. There are also plans to build 5 new schools and 3 new health centres. This new funding package and the construction projects will run through to 2011 and is alongside human development projects aimed at improving literacy and productivity in Sinai’s Bedouin communities. Speaking to Bikya Masr, a spokesman for the North Sinai Popular Committee for Human Rights cautiously welcomed the news, mentioning that money alone would not solve problems in Sinai, and that rigorously enforced long term developmental goals were needed. He also noted that water provision should be a priority in any developmental work in Sinai. In recent years the Bedouin have clashed with Egyptian security forces in Sinai over what they call the poor treatment of their tribes and a lack of rights given them. It has led to towns in the peninsula closed off for days as troops and Bedouin have exchanged gunfire over territory and abuses. BM
