FOR the third time in a week, a checkpoint in Sinai has been attacked by masked, armed extremists. This time, they attacked a checkpoint in Sheikh Zuwayed City in North Sinai, injuring two soldiers. At the same time, some six policemen working near the border with Gaza were kidnapped by gunmen. The apparent aim is to lessen the State's grip on security in the Peninsula, for the benefit of some extremist militant groups that seek to isolate Sinai from the motherland. These gangs, whether living in Sinai or operating from across the borders with Palestine, want to exploit the unrest in post-revolution Egypt, while the Army is busy with the political process in the capital, in order to occupy Sinai and remove it from Egyptian sovereignty. Similar attempts were made last year by some extremists who wanted to turn Sinai into an Islamic emirate. The Armed Forces launched a campaign against them and restored some sort of order to the Peninsula. However, developments in the country and the political transition seem to have diverted the attention of the SCAF leaders from the problems in Sinai, encouraging the extremists to resume their efforts to destabilise it. Sinai, where most presidential candidates want to launch Egypt's development programme in the near future, could bring chaos and even war to the country. Long negligence of the development of Sinai by successive governments under Mubarak, police harassment of the Sinai Bedouin and the growing influence of some extremist groups have made Sinai one of the biggest dilemmas for the next president to settle. Meanwhile, the SCAF shouldn't ignore what's happening in Sinai, including the endless attacks on the military and security forces by armed gangs, even though it is busy dealing with the unrest near the Ministry of Defence in Cairo's el-Abbasiya district. Israeli has decided to mobilise troops on the border with Egypt, on the pretext that the disorder in Sinai and the militants there pose a threat to the Jewish State. The SCAF should speedily mobilise more troops in Sinai, in order to restore security there and protect Egypt's eastern border from a possible Israeli operation in Egyptian territory, on the pretext of chasing armed extremists. Although busy with the final stages of the transitional phase, the SCAF shouldn't forget that securing and protecting the State's borders is its main mission, which it mustn't neglect.
