Live streams

Libyan Arms Stockpiles in Egypt Causing Concern

Palestinian worker moves goods through a smuggling tunnel between the Gaza Strip and the Egyptian Sinai February 19, 2013.

TEXT SIZE - +

Jamie Dettmer

March 05, 2013

TRIPOLI, LIBYA — Since Moammar Gadhafi was ousted as Libya’s leader over a year ago, Egyptian officials have been intercepting large caches of weapons smuggled from Libya destined for black-market transfer to Syria and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

But in recent weeks the pattern of the arms shipments has shifted, according to officials, and fundamentalist Muslim groups in Egypt, known as Salafis, also are receiving the weapons.

The pattern shift is alarming Egyptian officials, who estimate they are seizing only a fraction of the weaponry - including shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles - flowing across the border from Libya.

In late February, Egyptian authorities announced they had intercepted two pickup trucks carrying 60 anti-tank missiles smuggled in from Libya.

Arms to Egyptian groups

The trucks, which were loaded in Mursa Matruh, 430 kilometers northwest of the Egyptian capital on the Mediterranean Coast, were heading to the increasingly lawless Sinai Peninsula. But officials now think that not all the missiles were earmarked for transfer to Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip.

“Not all the weaponry flowing into Libya is going to the Gaza,” a European diplomat told VOA on the condition of anonymity. “The Egyptians are becoming alarmed that weapons are now being stockpiled by Egyptian Salafi groups. They are starting to uncover arms trafficked from Libya in the [Nile] Delta and believe other weapons are being stored in Sinai. It is making them very nervous.”

Weapons stockpiles

The reports of weapons stockpiling by militant Salafi groups is coming at a time of increased tension between Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and Salafist political parties.

This past week, representatives of the Salafist Nour Party unleashed a scathing critique of President Morsi and the governing Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party. Other Islamists groups spurned by Morsi also joined in the attack, blaming him for Egypt’s worsening political crisis and warned that Egypt will remain on edge until a national unity government is appointed.

They accuse the government of using repressive tactics similar to those used by ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

Adding to Morsi’s mounting woes, he also is being severely criticized by militant Islamists, including elements of al-Qaida. Late last month, Abu Mus’ab, a former adviser to the late al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, told an Arab broadcaster that Morsi’s government was, “evil.” “This regime must fall and an Islamic state be established,” he said.

Abdel-Fattah Othman, Egypt’s deputy interior minister for public security, warns that the proliferation of illegal weapons is making what is an already tense situation even worse.

“Weapons coming from neighboring countries are contributing to the chaos,” Othman said. “In Port Said, for example, we faced armed groups using rockets and grenades in an attempt to storm the city’s prison complex.”

Since the end of January, more than 60 people have died in such clashes, three of them policemen.

With militant groups in Egypt stockpiling more weapons, the fear is that unrest could lead to greater violence.

Libyan weapons in Mali

Arms trafficking from Libya contributed to the destabilization of northern Mali, where huge inflows of weapons plundered from Gadhafi’s arsenals helped Tuareg mercenaries and jihadist fighters to carve out their own enclave in the heart of the sub-Sahara.

Last November, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an al-Qaida in the Maghreb (AQIM) leader who masterminded the seizure of an Algerian natural gas plant in January, bragged about how easy it had been to obtain Libyan weapons. Belmokhtar, later reported killed by pro-government forces in Mali, said his group got the weapons through channels from Gadhafi’s arsenals during the eight-month-long uprising that ousted the late Libyan leader.

The weapons intercepted in Egypt have included everything needed to start a small war - surface-to-air missiles, rockets, anti-aircraft guns, automatic rifles, RPG7 rocket launchers and huge amounts of ammunition.

Libyan rockets hit Israel

A Palestinian worker takes a break from working on a smuggling tunnel between Egypt's Sinai and the Gaza Strip.

Experts in the region noted that many of the rockets fired into Israel from Gaza late last year were Grad rockets obtained from Libyan sources. The Egyptian security services say they have seized consignments that included Grad rockets. One of the biggest seizures came last November when Egyptian authorities intercepted a shipment of 108 Grad warheads on the docks at Mursa Matruh.

Egyptian President Morsi has vowed to crack down on the arms trafficking. And on February 3, Egyptian authorities began flooding the tunnels used for smuggling weapons and commercial goods between Gaza and the Egyptian Sinai.

According to U.S. intelligence sources, contacts have increased in recent months between Al Qaeda-linked Jihadists and more localized Salafist groups in Sinai and the Egyptian Delta region.

Paul Sullivan, of the Washington D.C.-based National Defense University, says that continued instability in Egypt bodes ill for long-term security. “The more poor and hopeless young people there are the easier it is for militants to recruit, pay and train them.”

You May Like

FILE- Unmanned Predator B drone, taken November 8, 2011.

Pakistan Reiterates Opposition to US Drone Strikes

Day earlier US President Barack Obama justified 'constrained' drone usage to save lives More

Authorities are taking samples of live poultry from mainland China to test for the H7N9 virus, April 11, 2013.

Study Identifies Risks of Human Spread of H7N9 Bird Flu

Study suggest that international measures to contain the H7N9 influenza, in the event of severe outbreak, will need to be targeted in Asia More

Anti government protesters burn tires and place rocks in the streets in Conakry, Guinea, May 3, 2013

Violence Continues in Conakry Over Upcoming Elections

Opposition has called for boycott of elections More

Syria's Civil War Fuels Violence in Iraq

Analysts say al-Qaida-linked militants are flowing back and forth from both countries More

Star Trek Influence Lives Long and Prospers

As new movie thrills, many are once again discussing the iconic franchise's influence on society, science and technology More

A view of Badong city on the banks of the Yangtze River, in Hubei province, China, August 7, 2012.

OECD: Developing Green Cities Key to Sustainable Future

OECD suggests strategies to mitigate rapid growth, industrialization in urban centers, which produce about two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions More

This forum has been closed.

Comment Sorting

Comments

by: S. Hanifl from: La Crosse, WI

March 06, 2013 6:23 PM

Report Comment

America does not fund the Muslim Brotherhood, at least this is not public knowledge. What is public knowledge is that as long as the Middle East continues to threaten American allies and defy, rightly or wrongly, modern western morality, America and the rest of the developed world have a vested interest in keeping close tabs on the goings on of Egyptians. I say to you, Egyptian, take care of your mess at home so you can rejoin the international community proudly. And learn to ignore the propaganda and realize the truth, that America wants stability as much as it wants democracy. Give it both.

by: Hatbat Al Quds from: Egypt

March 05, 2013 11:32 PM

Report Comment

America, the AK47 and explosives weapons coming here are from Libya, Iran and Gaza- Hamas. but bad drugs are coming here from Turkey. everyone buys guns, police very bad, worse than ever, arresting everyone not Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas is helping Muslim Brotherhood police to kill Egyptians. America, you give weapons to Muslim Brotherhood WHY??? they are killing us with your weapons. WHY?? America!!!

Featured Videos

Your JavaScript is turned off or you have an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.

Video

Volunteers Help Revive LA's Concrete River

The Los Angeles River is a concrete drainage channel through much of its 80-kilometer length. It channels waste-water from storm drains and has become a receptacle for much of the city's trash. But as Mike O'Sullivan reports, the river is slowly being restored with the help of volunteers, who take part in an annual clean-up.