The security situation in Egypt has improved by 60 percent, thanks to increased police presence, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said Monday. He stressed that police presence will be increased for the short term.
During a press conference after meeting with Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri, Ibrahim named three challenges police are facing: escaped prisoners, former convicts and unregistered criminals.
The 60 percent increase accounts for the greater numbers of police securing Egypt’s streets, Ibrahim said. It is an improvement over the security situation during the 18-day uprising in January and Feburary of last year, during which police all but disappeared.
A security void since the breakout of the Egyptian revolution in January 2011 has caused surging crime rates in the country.
Criticism of the Ganzouri government’s security performance reached its peak with the death of 74 football fans in rampage following a match in Port Said on 1 February.
On 10 February, armed Bedouin kidnapped three South Korean women and their Egyptian tour guide in South Sinai, demanding the release of relatives held by police. A week earlier, two American tourists and their Egyptian tour guide were briefly abducted by armed Bedouin.
In most of these cases, kidnappers asked for the release of fellow tribe members arrested by police.
A string of robberies on banks and individuals has also raised security fears. Most notably, in late February, Presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh’s was beaten and his car stolen by masked gunman while he was returning from a campaign event.
Translated from MENA
