Terrorism in Egypt- Islamic State inroads in Sinai

Terrorism in Egypt is not a new phenomenon. Its origin can be traced back to 1928 when an organization called the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ was established in Egypt. Today, Muslim Brotherhood is categorized as a terrorist organization by the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. It initially took off as a socio-religious organization but ended up being the umbrella body of all other terrorist organizations in Egypt. This article is an attempt to understand the origin of terrorism in Egypt. The article would also include insights into the present-day situation of terrorism in Egypt.

History

Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 by Islamic Scholar Hassan al-Banna and was heavily financed by Gulf Arabs. The organization originally began as an institution to help people in distress via socio-religious motivation. Furthermore, the organization aimed to establish an Islamic State and fight the government that “failed to live by the Quran and the Islamic Laws”, which transformed it into an extremist organization (Sinha, 1998). In 1954, its members tried to assassinate President Gamal Abdel Nasser but failed. Nasser’s successor, President Anwar Sadat implemented a pacifying approach towards the West and Israel that bothered the members of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Sadat government also entered into a tactical alliance with Muslim Brotherhood and advocated Islam in all walks of life (Sinha, 1998).

With the arrival of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in the 1970s, the Muslim Brotherhood began using force to grab power. According to P.B. Sinha, with Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman as its leader, “an extremist offshoot emerged from the Muslim Brotherhood”, which came to be known as Islamic Jihad (IJ) (1998). In 1981, some members of Islamic Jihad assassinated President Sadat for signing the peace accord at Camp David with Israel. When Hosni Mubarak became president, he ordered a crackdown on militants’ groups like Islamic Jihad, al-Takfir wa al-Hijra, etc. In 1989, the IJ leader, Sheikh Omar fled the country and got settled in Brooklyn, New Jersey. Meanwhile, there emerged local militant Islamic groups in Egypt, which were inspired by Sheikh Omar. Groups such as al-Gamma al-Islamiya (The Islamic Group) and Talaeh al-Fatah (Vanguard of the Conquest) became the successor of Islamic Jihad (Sinha, 1998).

Another key moment that boosted the morale of terrorist groups in Egypt was the withdrawal of the Soviet army from Afghanistan. It is believed that the group al-Gamaa al-Islamiya contributed about 300 combat troops for the cause of Aghan Mujahideen and Islam. Osama bin Laden also financed a camp in Afghanistan that trained recruits from al-Jihad and al-Gamaa al-Islamiya. Many foreign countries like Iran, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan smuggled weapons to terrorist organizations of Egypt. Iran was also accused of exporting the Islamic Revolution to Egypt through the Afghan civil war.

Aims and Targets

In the 1990s, the main goal of terrorist organizations in Egypt was to topple the infidel government and install an Islamic state. For this purpose, their targets were mainly Christian Copts, security officials, intellectuals, journalists, teachers, public and administration figures, tourists, western influencers, civilians, etc. Even in the 2000s, the goals and targets have somewhat remained the same but the orientation of terrorist groups has changed. The militants come from small towns and slums, especially from neglected and unemployment-stricken south of the country (Tal, 1998).

Throughout the late 1990s, al-Gamaa al-Islamiya targeted foreign tourists to blow Egyptian tourism and damage the national economy and reputation of Egypt. In 1997, the members of al-Gamaa al-Islamiya attacked the famous Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, killing 62 people (mostly tourists). Sheikh Omar event sent a fatwa to his followers, which permitted the murder of tourists in Egypt (Tal, 1998). The militants have regularly targeted the Coptic minority due to their differences in religious ideologies. The organizations have also conducted terrorist attacks abroad. For example, in 1995, the group tried attempted to assassinate President Mubarak in Addis Ababa but failed to do so. In November 1995, to protest the Pakistani government’s decision of extraditing wanted Islamists to Egypt, Islamic Jihad plotted a bomb in a car that killed about 30 people in Peshawar (Tal, 1998).

Counter-Terrorism

During the Mubarak presidency, a diplomatic campaign was launched to create international ties. In 1995, Egypt signed an agreement with India to cooperate on the issue of international terrorism. About $30 million was spent on weapons and communication equipment to combat the terrorist. Moreover, large-scale raids were conducted by Egyptian security forces to apprehend extremists. According to P.B. Sinha, in 1993, about 6000 extremists were detained (1998). The government also took steps to control mosques and supervise them. Posters like “Say No to Terrorism” and “This does not belong to Islam” were printed by authorities to run anti-terrorism publicity campaigns (Sinha, 1998). Due to massive arrests, the prisons of Egypt quickly filled beyond their capacity. In many prisons, fundamentalists were put with common criminals, which helped the extremists in influencing and recruiting inmates to their organizations.

Nevertheless, the government became quite successful in preventing extremist infiltration through its counter-terrorism activities such as curfews, house-to-house, massive arrests, military trials, and death sentences. The government even effectively uncovered the plan to assassinate President Mubarak in 1993, 1994, and 1995 (Sinha, 1998).

Current Issue

Since 2013, there is again a surge of terrorist attacks in Egypt. It is believed that the terrorist groups are linked with al-Qaeda. In April 2013, a series of bombs were exploded outside Cairo University that killed the security official and many others. In 2014, a series of coordinated attacks were conducted through car bombs in Cairo. In December 2014, a deadly suicide car bomb killed 16 security officers and damaged several government institutions. The attacks in the 2000s have become more deadly and coordinated.

In 2013, General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi led a military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and became President in 2014. Mohammed Morsi was revered as a senior figure among members of the Muslim Brotherhood and hence after his removal, the members became active in anti-Sisi protests. After the protests, the Sisi government led a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and blamed them for attacks in Cairo. Recently, in July 2021, the Egyptian Parliament has ratified the dismissal of public workers if their names appear on the list of ‘government opponents’ and ‘terrorists’. The legislation particularly targets civil servants belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood. This legislation has come to the limelight after the transport minister Kamel al-Wazir blamed a series of deadly rail accidents on members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Sinai Conflict

While President Sisi has heavily focused on the crackdown of the Muslim Brotherhood, he has ignored other radical groups. After the removal of President Morsi (the first democratically elected President), local terrorist groups in Sinai have pledged their allegiance to the Islamic State group or Daesh since 2014. The Sinai Peninsula hosts Egypt’s most active jihadist militants as it also borders Gaza and Israel. Initially, the insurgency included only local Bedouin tribesmen, who took arms in their hands to protest their poor conditions of living (unemployment, lack of education, isolation, etc.). However, in 2014, the tribesmen merged with Daesh.

The conflict began in 2011 and it was fuelled due to Egyptian neglect of Bedouin needs. They were denied land rights, excluded from Sinai’s tourist industry, prevented economic opportunities, etc. The Egyptian government’s neglect and ignorance towards Bedouin compelled them to get engaged in illicit activities such as smuggling goods to Gaza. Since 2013, the conflict has become more violent as the militants have targeted police and security forces. In 2015, Daesh shot down a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai Peninsula, which killed 224 people on board. There have been bomb attacks in the mosque that have taken over 300 lives in northern Sinai. It is believed that ISIS (Daesh) was involved in the 2017 Sinai Mosque attack that killed 305 people and wounded 120 others in Sinai. Daesh has launched mass and large-scale attacks on military personnel and has seized villages, ultimately killing many Egyptian Muslims. To counter terrorism, the Egyptian military is running anti-terrorism operations in the Northern Sinai. Recently, the army has claimed to have killed 89 insurgents in the region.

It is alleged that President Sisi has indirectly given Daesh an optimal environment to grow and thrive. President Sisi gives more attention to the Muslim Brotherhood crackdown when he should be worrying about the situation in Sinai. When President Sisi overthrew democracy and elected himself as President, it inspired Daesh to use violence to flourish. According to Sam Hamad, the Sinai Peninsula remains an important part of Egypt as it contains oil and gas reserves. President Morsi wanted to develop this region for the betterment of tribes through his Nahada campaign. However, he did not put the campaign into effect because it meant “taking power and money away from Egypt’s praetorian kleptocrats and their foreign corporate” (Hamad, 2021). Therefore, President Sisi has also chosen to stay quiet on this matter. Up to this day, “brutal works of Daesh are blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood” to appease the Egyptian public (Hamad, 2021).

Implications

Egypt is burning. There is violence and terror in cities and the countryside. On one hand, on July, 24 Muslim Brotherhood members were sentenced to death by the Egyptian court for killing police officers. On the other hand, Daesh militants are killing innocents of civilians and attacking security personnel in Sinai. The national security of Egypt is in danger. The clash between the Egypt’s military personnel and militants are claiming innocent lives on daily basis. The clashes have also increased costs as it is expected that the military expenditure of Egypt would reach 2000 USD million by the end of 2021. Moreover, there has been massive public demonstrations against President Sisi as he is accused of human rights violation along with corruption.

In August 2021, the Egyptian government launched a national report on combating terrorism. The report highlights the efforts and ways of authorities in combating terrorists. The report also includes the government’s plans to provide means of support and care to families of martyrs and victims of terrorism. It is yet to see what the government plans to do domestically. Nonetheless, the urgency due to increased terrorist activities signals that Egypt would be needing helping hands from its international friends to confront terrorism.

References

AFP. (2021, August 02). Egypt Army says 89 insurgents killed in Restive Sinai. Retrieved August 03, 2021, from https://www.thedefensepost.com/2021/08/02/egypt-insurgents-killed-sinai/

Egypt President Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi: Ruler with an iron grip. (2020, December 01). Retrieved August 03, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-19256730

Egypt to sack Muslim Brotherhood-linked civil servants:. (2021). Retrieved August 03, 2021, from https://thearabweekly.com/egypt-sack-muslim-brotherhood-linked-civil-servants

Hamad, S. (2021, April 24). Sisi’s ‘war on terror’ in Sinai benefits the elite, not the people. Retrieved August 03, 2021, from https://www.trtworld.com/opinion/sisi-s-war-on-terror-in-sinai-benefits-the-elite-not-the-people-46153

Hegazi, S. (2021, August 03). Egypt launches national report on combating terrorism for 2021. Retrieved August 03, 2021, from https://dailynewsegypt.com/2021/08/03/egypt-launches-national-report-on-combating-terrorism-for-2021/

Idris, I. (2017). Sinai conflict analysis - reliefweb. Retrieved August 3, 2021, from https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/049%20Sinai%20Conflict%20Analysis%20%28new%20K4D%20template%29.pdf

Sinha, P. B. “Threat of Islamic Terrorism in Egypt.” Strategic Analysis, vol. 22, no. 8, 1998, pp. 1193–1213., doi:10.1080/09700169808458874.

Sweilam, A. (2021, July 31). Egypt officials say Daesh Militants attack kills 5 troops in Sinai. Retrieved August 03, 2021, from https://www.arabnews.com/node/1903306/middle-east

Tal, N. (1998). Islamic Terrorism in Egypt: Challenges and Response. Institute of National Security Studies, 1(1), 8–11.

Terrorism - Egypt travel advice. (2021, July 26). Retrieved August 03, 2021, from https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/egypt/terrorism

Pic Courtesy-Nariman Mesharrafa at unsplash.com

(The views expressed are those of the author and do not represent views of CESCUBE.)