US supports Egypt's efforts to defend its borders - State Dept

Friday 31-10-2014 03:38 PM
US supports Egypt's efforts to defend its borders - State Dept

Military vehicles are seen during an army crackdown in North Sinai on July 25, 2014 - photo from Facebook page of an army spokesman

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CAIRO, Oct 31 (Aswat Masriya) - The United States will continue to "support [Egypt's] efforts to take steps to defend their own borders," said the U.S. State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki. 

During the department's Thursday press briefing, Psaki addressed the buffer zone Egyptian authorities are creating on the country's eastern border in Sinai. 

Security forces began evacuating the area bordering Sinai's Rafah on Tuesday evening, as one of the steps taken in response to a militant attack on security personnel in the Peninsula last Friday which left over 33 killed.

"We believe that Egypt has the right to take steps to maintain their own security," Psaki said, adding that the U.S understands the threat Egypt is facing from Sinai. "We also continue to encourage them to take into account those that would be internally displaced by this, but they’re working through the plan and we’re continuing to support their efforts to take steps to defend their own borders."

Egypt's cabinet issued on Wednesday a decision to clear 500 metres of the border area with the Palestinian Gaza Strip of civilians, vowing to provide compensation for those evicted. The decision allows the forcible seizure of the property of those who refuse to comply.

North Sinai's Governor Abdel Fattah Harhour told state-run news agency MENA on Thursday night that 37 families who evacuated their houses have received financial compensation. He added that the government has allocated 500 million Egyptian pounds for financial compensation for those whose houses have been evicted.

According to a surveillance of the area in question, there are 802 houses sheltering 1156 families which need to be evicted. They include 112 houses which have been affected by the tunnel-destruction operations the armed forces are conducting and 87 more which have already been removed for sheltering illegal tunnels.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared a three-month state of emergency and a nighttime curfew in parts of the Sinai Peninsula in response to last Friday's deadly attacks. 
Gaza's ruling body Hamas criticised the buffer zone in a Monday statement, saying it would reinforce the siege imposed on the strip since 2007. 

Militants have stepped up attacks targeting security forces in Egypt, particularly in the Sinai Peninsula, since the army's ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013, which followed mass protests against his rule. 

Security forces have been targeting tunnels dug up in the Sinai to connect it with Gaza. Egyptian authorities say the tunnels are used to smuggle arms to militants in the Peninsula. 

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