Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt has employed negotiations and heavy military pressure
to defuse an insurgency crisis in the Sinai Peninsula.

The regime of President Mohammed Morsi has won the release of seven
Egyptian soldiers and security officers held in Sinai. Officials said
Bedouin gunmen released the seven unharmed on May 22 in a move that halted a
major counter-insurgency campaign.

“The seven security personnel have been released by their kidnappers in
Sinai,” Egyptian military spokesman Maj. Gen. Ahmed Ali said.

The release came hours before thousands of Egyptian troops, backed by
main battle tanks and combat helicopters, prepared to attack suspected
Bedouin insurgency strongholds in Sinai. Officials said Morsi ordered
negotiations for nearly a week with the Bedouin abductors.

The talks for the release of the officers, captured on May 16, were said
to have been mediated by tribal leaders. At the same time, Egyptian attack
helicopters and fighter-jets flew in missions over northern Sinai.

“The seven are on their way to Cairo following their release, which came
as a result of efforts by Egyptian military intelligence in coordination
with tribal leaders in Sinai,” Ali said.

Officials said the Egyptian military had been prepared for fierce
resistance by thousands of Bedouin fighters. They said the Bedouins
were equipped with surface-to-air missiles, surface-to-surface rockets,
rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns.

“I call on everyone in Sinai who has weapons to turn them in,” Morsi
said. “This nation is bigger than all of us and weapons can only be in the
hands of the government.”

The abductors had demanded the release of five of their colleagues
imprisoned since 2011 in connection with an attack in which five Egyptian
security officers were killed in the northern provincial capital of El
Arish. Hours before the release of the captives, Interior Minister Mohamed
Ibrahim said Egypt refused to negotiate any prisoner release.

The release of the officers also delayed an Egyptian showdown
with the Hamas regime. Officials said some or all of the abductors were
believed linked to Al Qaida-aligned militias in the Gaza Strip.

On May 22, Cairo reopened its border terminal with the Gaza Strip and
began allowing some 7,000 stranded Palestinians to return home.

“The perpetrators of the crime are identified and are being pursued,”
Interior Ministry spokesman Hani Abdel Latif said.

  Egypt lowers the boom on Sinai and wins release of security officers, El Arish, Hani Abdel Latif, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Ali, Mohammed Morsi