Egypt has started building a wire fence around Sharm El-Sheikhâs tourist spots in a bid to prevent attackers from crossing into the Red Sea resort that was hit by deadly bombings in July, a security official said yesterday. âThe fence aims to block cars from entering tourist areas except from four designated points and thus prevent possible terror attacks,â the official said on condition of anonymity.
The fence would span 20 kilometers, stand one-and-a-half meters high, and be patrolled by security forces, the official said. He said work started on Saturday but did not say when it would end. Once the fence is complete, access to the city will be restricted to police-monitored entry points, equipped with state-of-the-art explosive detection equipment, he said. The opposition newspaper Al-Wafd put the fence price tag at 20 million Egyptian pounds ($3.5 million) but did not say how it obtained the figure. âHow is Egypt different from the government of (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon) that built a separation wall to stop the Palestinian resistance?â it wrote on its front page. âThis wall seeks to keep Sinai Bedouins out of Sharm El-Sheikh but it will only separate the state from its citizens ... it will not prevent terrorism, it will increase it,â it said. |