President Mohamed Morsi called Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim and Defense Minister Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi to an emergency meeting to discuss recent developments in the Sinai region.
The meeting comes after seven conscripts were kidnapped in North Sinai near Al-Arish. The kidnapped include three Central Security Forces conscripts and four military men.
The kidnappers have not yet been identified and their demands are still unknown.
Aly Fereig, head of the Arabic Party for Justice and Equality and a Sinai tribal leader, said: “There is security in Sinai but it needs reinforcement.” He said tribes have to be involved in the security institutions of Sinai because every tribe living on their own plot of land will be responsible for securing it.
“Sinai is too big. Security will not be achieved without the tribes,” he said.
This is not the first kidnapping incident in Sinai. In July, 2012 two Americans were kidnapped by a man identified as Jirmy Abu Masuh. His condition for releasing them was the release of his uncle who was serving time in prison for drug smuggling.
More recently, an Israeli and a Norwegian tourist were kidnapped and released last March.
The lawlessness in Sinai has not only led to repeated kidnaps, but also to killings. Last August, a deadly attack on a military fixture left 16 Egyptian soldiers dead in Rafah.
