Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has revived a border security project
blocked by Egypt.

Diplomatic sources said Washington was pressing for the renewal of a $23
million security project in the Sinai Peninsula vetoed by the former regime
of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The sources said Mubarak and the military had been concerned over
opposition to the deployment of U.S. military personnel in Egypt near the border with the Gaza Strip.

“Mubarak was willing to work with the Americans, but there was
resistance from the military,” a Western diplomat said.

[On Aug. 28, a U.S. government delegation led by Undersecretary of State Robert Hormats began talks with Egyptian officials on projects for Cairo. Officials said Washington has agreed in principle to forgive $1 billion of a $3.2 billion debt owed by Egypt.]

Under the security project, suspended in 2010, the U.S. Defense
Department and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had been assigned to build a physical barrier along 10 kilometers of the 14-kilometer Sinai border with the Gaza Strip. The border wall was meant to have been enhanced by thermal imagers and motion sensors.

For more than a year, U.S. personnel planned and oversaw the
establishment of a border system that would detect the smuggling of arms and
fuel from Sinai to the Gaza Strip. The Pentagon also provided equipment to
monitor activity in the estimated 1,200 tunnels that link Sinai to Gaza.

But the Egyptian military objected to U.S. plans to link the border
sensors to American military satellites. The sources said the General Staff,
particularly Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi, determined that the link
would provide Washington with a permanent presence in eastern Sinai.

“There was potential criticism from the opposition of U.S. control over
the Egyptian border,” Tantawi said.

On Aug. 12, the 76-year-old Tantawi was dismissed by President Mohammed
Morsi. Morsi also replaced the military chief of staff and other commanders.

The sources said Morsi, expected to meet President Barack Obama in
September, has agreed to renew the border project with the
United States. They said the U.S. project was expected to include the export
of unmanned aerial vehicles and communications to Egypt.

“This project will be discussed [by Morsi] as part of efforts to renew
strategic cooperation between Cairo and Washington,” the diplomat said.

  Gaza Strip, Hosni Mubarak, Hussein Tantawi, Mohammed Morsi, Robert Hormats, Sinai Peninsula, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. revisits plan with Cairo to build barrier to Gaza Strip border