Here’s it’s all tribal rule

Rafah, Egypt

The tribes, which have stockpiled everything from small arms to anti-aircraft missiles, are doing a fine job of dealing with violent human smugglers, drug runners and other miscreants who have taken advantage of the security vacuum over the past year, he said. “Here, it’s all tribes,” Ebrahim Al Meneey, a powerful Bedouin tribal elder who lives a few miles from the Israeli border, said, sitting on a moonlit sandy patch outside his house, which is close enough to Israel that mobile phones roam onto the country’s mobile networks.

“Security is very stable.” The increasing boldness of militant cells in the area does not yet concern him, Al Meneey said, noting that he does not share their goal of creating an Islamic caliphate.

The fighters who set up a small training facility about six kilometres from his home earlier this year are respectful of locals, and number no more than 150. But he worries that such groups could evolve into a powerful movement with links to militant groups in Palestinian territories and other Muslim countries.

For the time being, there is little support for the budding jihadist cells among the members of his tribe, the Sawarka, the elder said. That could change, he cautioned, if the government once again carries out indiscriminate arrests. “The bedouin is a peaceful being,” Al Meneey said, sipping sweet tea. “But if he feels humiliated, he will never forget. The government has to work quickly to deliver justice.”

If the Egyptian government fails to find the right approach to restore security and services, he said: “This could become like a second Afghanistan. It could become an international war.” Whether or not armed conflict is imminent, Sinai leaders say they have increasingly taken on tasks the state is not performing. Roughly six months ago,

Hamdeen Abu Faisal, an Islamic scholar, became among the first in the region to set up informal tribunals that settle cases that would normally be the jurisdiction of local courts. “The people started to need someone to sort out their problems,” Abu Faisal said. “There are no functioning courts, police stations or district attorneys.” The courts are not imposing corporal punishments, Abu Faisal said, and are only arbitrating disputes among people who agree in writing to adhere to the decision of the scholars.

“Don’t worry,” joked Abu Faisal, who was among the Islamists detained following the 2004 bombings in Taba, a resort town then popular among Israelis. “We don’t use whips.”

— Washington Post