Why did tribes take up arms in Egypt's Sinai?
Sheikh Issa al-Kharafin, the sheikh of the Rumailat tribe and the head of the North Sinai Sheikhdom, speaks to Al-Monitor about the pros and cons of the tribal decision to take up arms to help the army fight extremists.
CAIRO — The battle between the Egyptian army and extremist groups is ongoing in northern Sinai. The confrontation only intensified in July 2013, after the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, when extremist groups exploited the chaos of that time and further organized and spread throughout Sinai.
The province of North Sinai witnessed a fierce battle between extremists and the Egyptian army in Rafah in August 2013, which resulted in the deaths of 25 Egyptian soldiers. These escalating confrontations over the years led the Sinai tribes to officially announce in April that they were taking up arms against extremist groups and cooperating with the army against these groups.
Al-Monitor interviewed Sheikh Issa al-Kharafin of the Rumailat tribe over the phone to ask him about the developments of the battle between the army and the extremists after the Sinai tribes decided to officially join the battle. Kharafin, who is head of the North Sinai Sheikhdom and is based in Ismailia, talked about the pros and cons of such a decision and whether the calls made by several public figures for the relocation of Sinai residents would serve the army.
The text of the interview follows:
