CAIRO: The security situation in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula is a threat to the Egyptian revolution, an Egyptian security expert said at a conference on Wednesday. “There is an external threat to Egypt after the January 25 Revolution,” said General Sameh Seif el-Yazal at a conference held by the Youth Organization for Stability and Development at the headquarters of the Journalists Syndicate in downtown Cairo yesterday. He said that a group of 6,000 men are arming themselves and controlling Arish and the region of Sheikh Zwayed in North Sinai, imposing their own courts and disrupting civilian trials. THis threatens post-revolution Egypt, he said. He pointed to the statements of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an Israeli military intelligence chief who said Egypt cannot control the security situation, and that Israel has a plan for crossing Egyptian borders in which Israel would occupy 5-7 kilometers of Sinai under the pretext of securing the border. El-Yazal said that there isn't any excuse for the slow performance of the Ministry of Interior, pointing out that that weapons are now sold in street and 8,000 fugitive prisoners are threatening the people's security. “The Egyptian situation is not good when there is weak security,” said el-Yazal, adding that he is afraid of sectarian tensions in Egypt. Nader Fargany, professor of political science at the American University in Cairo, said that the Egyptian revolution started and but hasn't finished. Fargany said the external threat to Egypt is represented by autocratic Arab regimes, particularly Saudi Arabia.
