Al-Sisi: we will take greater steps to evacuate Sinai border

Egyptian President Abdul Fatah Al-Sisi said that his country plans to take further measures to fully evacuate the Sinai border with Gaza and that the Egyptian government will pay Sinai families a compensation of nearly one billion Egyptian pounds (150 million dollars). Al-Sisi stressed the importance of not driving a wedge between families in the peninsula and the rest of Egypt.

In a televised broadcast on the Egyptian News Channel on Monday, Al-Sisi waged a salute and apologised to families in Sinai for their loss in the wake of an attack that left 31 people dead and 30 others injured.

Al-Sisi went on to urge families in Sinai not to allow for a wedge to be driven between the Egyptian people by emphasising, “That all of Egypt’s people are one”. Al-Sisi went on to say that previous Egyptian governments had neglected the people of Sinai in terms of providing them with basic healthcare, education and other services. The Egyptian president went on to assure Egyptian families that the current government is committed to the development of the Sinai because, “Development is part of National Security”. He also described the evacuation of the Sinai as a step towards greater nationals security, one that would ensure that the Palestinian people were no longer under threat. The Egyptian government ordered the evacuation of Rafah, a town in the Northern Sinai that borders the Gaza Strip in an effort, “To stop terrorist infiltration into Egypt”.

Al-Sisi spoke of the Egyptian army saying, “The Egyptian army is our proud national army”. He claimed that in 2012 and 2013, there was secret plan to annex Sinai as a separate emirate, although he did not specify who was behind this alleged operation. He explained that this was part of a greater plan to render Sinai vulnerable to terrorist attacks and he emphasised that the Egyptian army remained loyal despite this devious attempt.

“We are in a war. A war of information against the Egyptians and the Egyptian people and the state and the goal is for them to see us fall, but we will not fall. We will get up and we will rise and you will see”, Al-Sisi continued.

Al-Sisi also stressed that no one can impose their will on the people of Egypt and that the government in its entirety is very sorry for the sense of loss people of Egypt have suffered in recent period. Sheriff Aboul-Naga, president of the Egyptian council, noted that the people of Sinai are extremely important to Egypt at large and all the government branches had agreed that it was vital to evacuate them speedily.

It was also revealed that a number of Sinai’s sheikhs agreed with the governments stance on rebuilding Rafah although they emphasised the need to review both the compensation and building plans for the city. Al-Sisi is expected to meet with several of Rafah’s sheikhs and families this coming Sunday.