20100719
africanews

ISMAILIA Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt freed 16 Bedouin tribesmen on Sunday, including an activist whose release was requested by tribal leaders in a meeting with the interior minister last month.

The government has sought to reduce tension in the strategic Sinai Peninsula, where Bedouin have complained of mistreatment and sporadically clashed with security forces.

Among those released was Yahya Abu Naseera, an activist who helped found Karama, an opposition party. He was jailed in 2008.

So far this month the government has released almost 100 Bedouin, members of nomadic Arab tribes, since the interior minister's June meeting with the tribal elders.

Some of those men were rounded up at the time of tourist site bombings in the Sinai Peninsula between 2004 and 2006.

Bedouin complain of neglect by the government and say they do not see the benefits from booming tourism in Sinai. They say tough conditions have led some to resort to smuggling and other activities the state considers criminal.

They have also demanded that the government investigate several policemen they say were involved in the killing of three tribesmen in 2007.

The oil ministry last week said it was setting up an oil services company for the region, with half the staff to be hired locally.

Authorities accuse the Bedouin of involvement in weapons and drug smuggling from Sinai to Israel and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.