CAIRO: “The Egyptian government’s strong opposition to violent extremism, together with its effective intelligence and security services, made Egypt an unattractive operating environment for terrorist groups,” concluded the section on Egypt in the Country Reports on Terrorism 2010, released by the US State Department.
The report provides an assessment of trends and events in international terrorism that transpired from January 1 to December 31, 2010.
While the Egyptian government took steps to further secure its borders, the Northern Sinai region remained a base for the smuggling of arms and explosives into Gaza, and a transit point for Hamas officials and operatives, the report said.
“The smuggling of humans, weapons, cash, and other contraband through the Sinai into Israel and the Gaza Strip has created criminal networks that may be associated with terrorist groups in the region,” it read.
Two terrorist incidents were reported in Egypt in April and August 2010, when rockets were reportedly fired from Sinai, striking in Jordan and Israel near the cities of Al-Aqaba and Eilat.
When it comes to fighting terrorism in the country’s legislations and law enforcement, many of the ousted Egyptian president’s far-reaching powers in the realm of counterterrorism come from the State of Emergency, which has been in force since 1981.
Even though ousted president Mubarak has pledged to lift the State of Emergency and replace it with new counterterrorism legislation, the reported draft has never been submitted to or approved by parliament. Moreover, parliament has renewed the State of Emergency in May, though it limited its application to terrorism and drug cases.
Egypt maintained its strengthened airport security measures and security for the Suez Canal, and instituted more stringent port security measures. According to the report, the US has provided technical assistance to Egypt in an effort to ensure that the Rafah border crossing is used only for the peaceful and legal movement of people and goods.
In relation to terrorism, in February 2010, 26 men arrested in July 2009 were put on trial and dubbed the "Zeitun" cell by the media for robbing and murdering a Coptic Christian jeweler to fund terrorism activities.
The group was also charged with the February 2009 Khan El Khalili bombing and of having ties with Al-Qaeda.
In another court case, in April 2010, 26 men were convicted of belonging to a Hezbollah cell that reportedly planned to attack Israeli tourists in the Sinai Peninsula and ships passing through the Suez Canal. Arrested in late 2008, the 26 men were also charged with smuggling weapons and goods through tunnels into the Gaza Strip. Sentences ranged from six months to life in prison, four of the individuals were tried in absentia, said the report.
During the past eight years, Egypt has tightened its terrorist finance regulations in keeping with relevant United Nations Security Resolutions and regularly informing its own financial institutions of any individuals or entities that were designated by the UN 1267 sanctions committee, as stated in the report.
When in comes to regional and international cooperation, Egypt actively participated in the Arab League’s Counterterrorism Committee. The Egyptian Assistant Deputy Foreign Minister for Counterterrorism was elected chair of this Arab League committee in 2010. Egypt also assisted states in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia in building counterterrorism capacity.
A number of counter-radicalization programs have been sponsored by the government in 2010, these include a "revision and reintegration program" for members of Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya and Egyptian Islamic Jihad who remained in detention.
The goal was to further encourage the renunciation of violence through interaction with Egypt’s Islamic scholars at Al-Azhar. In addition, the Ministry of Endowments issued guidance to imams throughout Egypt that included directions to avoid extremism in sermons. Egypt’s Al-Azhar University cooperated with Cambridge University on a training program for imams that promoted moderate Islam, interfaith cooperation, and human rights.
According to the National Counterterrorism Center, more than 11,500 terrorist attacks occurred in 72 countries around the world during 2010, resulting in more than 13,200 deaths. Although the number of attacks rose by almost 5 percent from the previous year, the number of deaths declined for a third consecutive year, dropping 12 percent from 2009.
For the second consecutive year, the largest number of reported attacks occurred in South Asia and the Near East, with more than 75 percent of the world’s attacks and deaths occurring in these regions, stated the report which aims to enhance the public’s understanding of the international terrorist threat.
