Despite repeated violence in the Sinai ... Why is popular discontent directed away from accountability?

Mohamed Abdullah - Cairo

Politicians and activists accused the Egyptian authorities of seeking to mobilize public opinion all the time against the armed attacks in North Sinai, and using that to evade official or popular accountability for the succession of military failures since 2011, and hundreds of military and civilian casualties.

In statements to Al-Jazeera Net, experts held both the parliament, the media and the political forces inside the responsibility to ignore the military leaders ’burden of any legal or moral responsibility for the repeated targeting of officers and soldiers by armed elements, and the continuation of military operations in North Sinai for the ninth year without setting a time horizon for the end of armed attacks, and the return Stability for the region.

They also criticized directing the state of public anger against the militants alone, and maintaining the continuing tone of denouncing state institutions and the media only for armed operations, without asking any questions about the real reasons for not satisfying the security situation entrusted to the ministries of defense and the interior despite repeated promises to eliminate the militants.

Although the Egyptian army rose to the ninth rank in the rankings of the world's most powerful armies last year - according to the Global Fire Power website - some questioned: Why did the time limit, brute force, or military development not stop the bloodshed, especially since researchers in the military and Sinai affairs estimate the numbers of militants In the hundreds only.

Parliament, newspapers and the media remained silent about the expiry of the three-month deadline granted by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to the Army Chief of Staff and the Minister of the Interior to eliminate "terrorism" in the Sinai region, but since then it has not stopped, although its severity has declined.

An attack by Zikr al-Tahrir,
and the army announced, on Thursday, that ten of its members, including an officer, were killed and wounded as a result of an explosive device explosion in an armored vehicle for the army south of the city of Bir al-Abed, North Sinai.

The attack comes less than a week after celebrating the anniversary of the liberation of Sinai, which falls on April 25 of each year, the day the Egyptian flag was raised after the liberation of the Sinai was fully liberated, and the peninsula was recovered after the withdrawal of the last Israeli soldier in 1982

. A curfew has been imposed in parts of North Sinai Governorate, and the authorities have imposed a state of emergency across the country since April 2017. A few days ago, Sisi issued a decision regarding the declaration of a state of emergency for a new three months, for the 13th time in a row.

The media, regardless of dealing with any news related to the military's military operations, is allowed only through the statements of the military spokesperson, according to the "anti-terrorism" law issued in August 2015, which was then described by Human Rights Watch as a human rights defender.

Accidents necessitating accountability
Osama Suleiman, a member of the former parliament’s National Defense and Security Committee, said, “Repeating such incidents in the same places requires accountability and trial, and it is not possible for rational people and the sages of this country to pass on them, and affirms the dependence of the four authorities, including the press, on one person only.”

Regarding the indications of this situation, he confirmed in statements to Al-Jazeera Net that what is happening confirms that the role of parliament, which does not represent the people in any way, has been canceled, and the role of the fourth authority (the press) in questioning its reasons for the continued deterioration of the security situation in North Sinai has been suspended.

Suleiman considered that there is no alternative to stopping this bleeding except through disclosure and investigation, and for the people to be a partner in governance through an elected parliament that expresses a people and a free media "and not a listener of what Sisi and his media say."

He asked: Who will pay the people - who pay the lives of their children a heavy price for military and security failure - the truth about what is happening, how it happens, and why it is happening?

A dead parliament,
in turn, Mahmoud Gamal, a researcher in Egyptian military affairs, refuted the parliament’s failure to hold the government accountable, saying, “The monitoring tools of the House of Representatives required accountability of the government (the army and the police) for the failure of the military strategy in Sinai since 2011, but this matter does not exist in Egypt because it is a pictorial parliament.”

On the so-called investigations and reviews that are taking place within the army in the wake of such armed attacks, Jamal assured Al-Jazeera Net that it is a sham that takes place in front of the officers to perpetuate the principle of internal assessments and investigations, but they have not yet produced any positive results.

And evidenced his speech by saying: In 2015, Sisi established the so-called Unified Command for the eastern Suez Canal region with wide powers, headed by General Osama Askar, but he was relieved of his position in December 2016 after failing to confront armed groups. He was later promoted to the post of Chief of the Armed Forces Operations Authority, one of the most prominent leadership positions in the army.

With a high criticism of the role of Parliament, Osama Al-Abd, head of the Religious Affairs and Endowments Committee in the House of Representatives, condemned the "terrorist" attack on an armored vehicle south of Bir al-Abd district of Sinai Governorate, killing and wounding an officer who described an officer and eight other soldiers.

Al-Abd stressed in an official statement that this incident will not affect the "determination of the heroes and men" of the armed forces in their war against "terrorism" and the insistence to defeat and eliminate it, stressing that the people "line up" behind the political leadership, the army and the police in support, support and support in "confronting and fighting terrorism". And this cowardly accident increases us persistence, persistence and strength. "

He called on the international community and all international organizations and bodies concerned with the move to take the necessary measures to hold the countries that finance, support, and sponsor of terrorism accountable, saying "deterrent measures must be taken against those who finance and sponsor terrorism, and solidarity between countries to unify and intensify efforts to combat terrorism and extremism."