Egypt seems determined to create a central Sinai governorate, carving out parts of the peninsula's existing northern Sinai and southern Sinai provinces. The result, officials hope, will reduce terrorism in the area and allow the country to take advantage of the region's potential.

Maj. Gen. Khaled Fouda, governor of southern Sinai, told a visiting parliamentary delegation Jan. 19 that a decision would be issued soon on whether to set up the proposed province.

The partition plan dates back years, and was especially notable when then-deputy Prime Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said he would run in the May 2014 presidential election. A proposal to redivide the provinces and establish new cities was part of his platform. After his election, a special committee proposed provincial borders and by December of that year, plans even included an airport for the new province. The government said central Sinai would consist of the southern Sinai towns of Ras Sedr, as the capital, Abu Zenima, Abou Redis, Nuweiba and Taba. Nekhel in northern Sinai would also become part of the new province. 

Some Sinai tribes, however, rebuffed the proposal at that time. Sheikh Salemeh Masmah, leader of the Haywat tribe in Taba, said annexing parts of the southern and northern Sinai provinces to form a third could cause problems among the tribes, whose social lifestyles vary. He also noted that mountains would be a barrier to the annexation.