PM Sharaf and a group of ministers visited Sinai yesterday and I would dare that this was the best we have celebrated Sinai liberation day ever.
The prime minister met in a conference the tribes’ chiefs and leaderships in Sinai along with activists like Mousad Abu Fagr. That conference was sponsored and prepared by the Egyptian army in South Sinai, the army seemed to be more obvious now in Sinai than before. “Of course with all the due respect to the Camp David accords , in fact I hope that the IDF respects the treaty as the Egyptian army does”
The citizens in Sinai told the ministers and PM their complains and requests in a way that reminded me how all Egyptians suffer for 30 years and nobody listened. Their demands were as simple as they can be , their demands were as old they can be :
- The land ownership rights.
- Developing Sinai especially the mid zone
- Boosting the financial status of Sinai through industrial and touristic projects.
- Providing job opportunities for the locals.
- Revamping the infrastructure.
- Railways
- The police treatment.
The ministers and the officials promised to work on these demands especially the land ownership rights. According to the minister of agriculture who sat and spoke with Nawara Negm the locals in Sinai will have the right to own the land on the condition they do not sell it. He also told her the Sinai development program has been approved. “I do not know if he is speaking about the North Sinai agricultural development program or that development program President Sadat and his government planned”
I will not be overestimating this meeting or conference when I consider it a very important step : The cabinet and the army recognize the rights of the locals in Sinai as Egyptian citizens. I will consider it as step not as milestone yet because with my all due I respect I will believe it when I see actions. I am skeptic despite I feel good in this particular file , the Sinai because of Sharaf and the army.I feel good when I see a woman like Sakina Fouad who spoke over and over about Sinai in that meeting and PM Sharaf saluting her , this brought a lot of hope to me.
Essam Sharaf as usually won the hearts and minds of the people in Sinai and outside it who followed the conference with his simple and sincere style. The man did not read pre-made speech , he spoke about points he wrote during the meeting and that’s it.
Sharaf apologized for the past treatment of the former regime and insisted that he does not approve on that image in the mainstream media about our people in Sinai. He promised that there will be either a council or a whole ministry dedicated to Sinai.
Sharaf ate with the tribes’ chiefs in a very significant move to build trust “eating bread and salt”.
Now we know that Mohamed Essam Sharaf is serving in the army like any other young man , of course some skeptics will claim that Mohamed is being pampered because of his father and that Sharaf is soft with the army because of his son !! I will fire back at those skeptics and tell them when was the last time we had an official in the size of Sharaf whose son did not skip the military service ?? Shall I have to remind them with Alaa and Gamal. I know some are annoyed by how the media is covering all the activities of Essam Sharaf from paying the traffic fine of his other son and from eating in a fol restaurant.. etc.
Well guess what for years we did not have this kind of human being prime ministers for decades so no wonder the media is heads over heals for Sharaf. In fact it is not only the media but many and many Egyptians to the level that now I meet people who believe he should run for presidency.
I think Dr.Sharaf makes me appeal for the parliamentary system more and more.
Happy Sinai Liberation Day :)
This made me very happy he is one of you really...
ReplyDeleteI agree, Essam Sharaf's conduct as Prime Minister is a breath of fresh air. He has opened so many new doors to a brighter future for Egypt, but his government is only a transitional government with a very limited mandate, until the parliamentary and presidential elections.
ReplyDeleteI am only afraid that this is a dream and won't last, but all the great work will be undone by Egypt's next government. After all, Essam Sharaf was chosen by the revolutionaries in Tahrir Square, but the next government will have been chosen by the people who brought us "ghazw al sanadeeq".
This is an excellent move of PM Sharaf.I wish he could and would be able to translate this into a real action plan with appropriate time frame and allocted resources...I look forward for same to be done with the Nubians.
ReplyDeleteI have high confidence in Sharaf , and not in his deputy and some members of his government.Hope he can really put his foot down and call the shots.If so,we should see a quantum-leap progress.@amrazim2808
Zeoinobia, can you explain me what Dr.Sharaf wanted to say with his latest tweet?
ReplyDeletehttp://twitter.com/#!/DrEssamSharaf/status/62127169333231616
Googletrans gave me these:
"Egypt and Saudi Arabia are better able to mobilize the Arab states in the direction of achieving the aspirations of their people"
Wtf he is talking about the Saudi regime?
Sinai is Egyptian terriory that was taken by force and occupied by Israel and then restituted.
ReplyDeleteAnd in Sudan we have territory that belongs to Sudanese tibes that has been taken by force and occupied by Egypt and that has not been restituted...
We are waiting for the day when the Eastern Front and the 'nuzaar' or tribal chiefs of the Sudanese Bishariyeen, Abaabda, AbdAllaab, Rashaida and Beja will be able to conduct a similar visit to Halayeb once it has been liberated from the military forces that have been occupying it since the mid-90's.
Apparently committees are being set-up with the new government in Egypt to revisit this issue, which is by far former President Mubarak's biggest African policy blunder.
In light of the stand-off between Sudan and Egypt over the nomination of Al-Fiqy as a candidate for leadership of the Arab League - who knows how or where discussions over Halayeb will lead to...
I appreciate Zol's comment re Sudan. But, when I have been in the Sinai, as I have several times, I wonder if it is really Egyptian or simply has been part of the political state of Egypt. I have the sense that it is a place populated by Bedouin who are not particularly "Egyptian" but are their own people. I doubt that they could be a state of their own -- too poor, to under-resourced, under-educated, etc, etc -- so there are certainly mutual benefits to being part of the Jumhurriya of Misr. But, I have never sensed that Sinai and the people of Sinai are really Egyptian. I am not from there and know I am a foreigner seeing with my foreign eyes. But, I'm interested in hearing if what I say makes sense to anyone who is from the region . . . What do you think?
ReplyDeleteOf course they are their own people, but that doesn't make them not a part of the 'Arab Republic' that is Egypt - the bedouins being the most indigenous of Arabs.
ReplyDeleteThey have ties of kith and kin with other 'Arab' tribes in the 'Arab' Middle East - in Jordan and the Occupied Territories and the Arabian Peninsula.
The Egyptians of Sinai, like other Egyptians, are an integral part of Egypt just like your hands and eyes and ears are part of you, and just as vital. (Cairo is maybe like Egypt's big mouth!).
ReplyDeleteOur geographic diversity is reflected in the diversity of the indigenous sub-cultures that have evolved and continuously adapted over centuries or even millenia within each region: coastal people are distinct from desert people, and these are in turn distinct from farmers in the Delta or Upper Egypt and urban dwellers, etc. This does not make any of them less "Egyptian" than any others -- on the contrary.
This rich diversity of cultures and expert knowledge and memories, all deeply rooted in Egypt's history and geography, is a priceless resource for the nation as a whole.
The January 25th Revolution has given many of us the hope that a true democracy is being built in Egypt, rooted in the strengths we already have, which will empower all its citizens and welcome their precious contribution to our country's future prosperity and success.