The southern region of Egypt is known for its green pastures lying on both sides of the Nile River, Abu Simbel Temple which tourists from all over the world travel to see, Lake Nasser that was formed by the Aswan High Dam, Luxor’s Karnak Temple. Valley of the Kings and so many more. Yet, there aren’t many tourists who would venture out and try to deal with the local inhabitants, who have their own unique Egyptian Arabic dialects, own unique traditions, and culture, which separates them from the dwellers of Cairo, Alexandria, and Northern Egypt.
Although you have Egyptian Nubians, who would have the same unique features as I mentioned previously (except that they have their own non-Arabic language as well), I am speaking about the Saeedis of Egypt, who speak Saeedi Arabic and form up most of the population in Southern Egypt. One thing most tourists don’t know is, they play an important role in arms smuggling. ‘Asleha’ (plural form of silah) coming from Israel, Sudan, Libya, and many other regions, mostly end up in one way or another in Egypt’s arms smuggling hub in the south.
Who are the Saeedis?
They are Egyptians living in the southern rural regions of Egypt, they have a rich history going all the way back to Pre-Islamic Egypt as a large portion of Coptic Christians come from the south. They are high recognizable by their traditional attire which is commonly a long kaftan and a turban. According to a report by the World Bank in 2012, Upper Egypt (South), suffers from severe cases of government neglect, very poor and inadequate health care system, extreme poverty and high rates of illiteracy, something which is highlighted in typical stereotypes about Saeedis being physically strong but simple-minded, which is also seen in Egyptian movies such as the very famous “Saeedi in American University“.
They have a strongly patriarchal and conservative culture, just like in many rural regions around the world, with women being most of the time housewives who are responsible for managing the home department while men must be the bread earners for the family. This, of course, isn’t the case with all Saeedis as many have been influenced by their interactions with Egyptians from other regions as well as with the influence of media and education. They have their own traditional dances, songs, poetry, music, and even sports. Saeedis are also known for their hospitality and tribalism. A tribe or a family that does welcome its guests properly would bring them shame, and in this part of Egypt, shame is worse than death.
The Boiling Blood
“Boiling Blood” Is a term used especially by Saeedis. A man with “boiling blood” running in his veins will not endure humiliation, whether it was physical or verbal without returning it back to its sender. Did someone slap you? Slap him back. Did someone insult you in front of an audience? Insult him back in front of the same audience. Did someone kill a relative of yours? Now, this is where things get a bit hairy and the need for Silah comes in. Its a dreadful part of Saeedi culture that even Egyptian authorities couldn’t end it entirely, as for Saeedis, shame is worse than death. This article on family revenge killings does a good job covering its details and how it will take a long time for the tradition to completely disappear.
Sometimes it would get completely out of hand and local law enforcement would have to step in, what could have been typical assassinations with a handgun at point blank distance by a single individual or a marksman shooting his victim with a bolt action rifle from a distance while he is busy checking the crops, would turn into a street war between two or more tribes with assault rifles, battle rifles and general purpose machine guns being used as seen in this video. The proliferation of weapons and ammunition, whether smuggled from neighboring countries or from local arsenals has made firearms become embedded in the Saeedi culture in a way never seen before, just like how firearms became an inseparable part of the Yemeni identity after the North Yemeni Civil War and the Aden Emergency. The AK47/AKM used to be seen as a sign of power and authority, with antique weapons such as British Lee Enfields and hunting shotguns being more common, is now more common than ever, especially thanks to recent circumstances that allowed the arms smuggling in the region to explode.
Photo uploaded by Almasri Alyoum news site.
The Blessings of Wars and Revolutions:
In the state of anarchy that Egypt was in during the Revolution of 25th January 2011, untold amounts of weapons have been looted from police headquarters across the country, many of them, in the end, got smuggled to the South. Then came a bigger boon, the Libyan Civil War, which brought untold amounts of weapons that were once extremely rare to be found on the black market, to become very common to the point even street thugs could be found carrying an FN FAL! Some of these weapons ended up being purchased by the residents of Upper Egypt for their own use, whiles others resold it to other parties who had different intentions. That’s how ISIS in Sinai ended up with a number of RPO’s and Kornets! A Sophisticated Anti Tank Guided Missile, that before the Arab Spring, no one would dream it could be smuggled across all the way to Sinai (Although most likely Wilayat Sinai (Sinai Province-branch of ISIS) lost their remaining Kornets or used up all their arsenal, which is, of course, my own personal assumption).
After some of form of stability had returned, the Egyptian authorities had a lot of clean up to do, but it was too late. Firearms are now rampant across southern Egypt to the point the south could field a small army if they ever wanted to, with weapons ranging from RPGs, M2 Browning’s, DShKs, and a multitude of small firearms from different origins. Not to mention the heavier arsenal such as Mi-24/35 Hind’s rocket pods! Even then, Egyptian security forces managed to stop a large number of smugglers in the southern and western regions of the country. Nevertheless, it doesn’t seem smugglers are deterred even with the brutal force they are sometimes met with (in the form of EAF’s Hellfire missiles) and as long as there is demand for silah there will be who is willing to take the risk and smuggle the supply.
Central Security Forces carrying out one of many countless raids in the south. Armed with AR 70/90 assault rifles and AKMs.
Picture of two armed men in the South, one is armed with what appears to be an SVD Dragunov and an RPG while the other is carrying what appears to be a light machine gun.
Bottom: The two most common smuggled Light Machine Guns in Egypt, the PKM and the FN MAG (in the center).
The picture uploaded by an Egyptian news site, apparently Egyptian authorities managed to seize a number of AK variants, ammunition and a rocket pod with a large number of unguided rockets that could possibly be either an S-5 type.
Egyptian authorities in one raid managed to capture a smuggled M2 Browning Machine Gun, RPG-7 with what appears to be an OG-7 anti personnel propelled grenade but without the charge and a DshK machine gun.
The DshK is not unheard of, here are some armed Saeedis with a Dshk turret.
Arrested lawbreakers who had with them 3 AK47s, single shot shotgun and a W85 Chinese.
Another captured set of smuggled weaponry which a number of handguns, shotguns, an AKMS and an Israelu Uzi submachinegun!
A captured thug who was armed with an Italian Beretta M12 submachine gun and what appears to be a variant of the glock handgun.
A modified Beretta M12 with a stock added and two AK47s.
Couple of handguns, Type 56 Chinese AKM, AK-47, SKS semi automatic rifle and an incredibly rare G3 Battle rifle. I would say that the G3 and the Type 56 were probably smuggled from Sudan.
Another picture with a G3 battle rifle.
Turkish shotguns have also become very popular in Egypt and are the most common Silah right after handguns and DIY weaponry.
AK103-2s and FN FALs have entered the country in large numbers and unfortunately, some ended up in the hands of ISIS. The pictures are for a large cache of smuggled weapons captured along with a major arms dealer in the region. You can watch the video for the whole cache by opening this link.
The smugglers keep bringing in tonnes of weaponry year after year, with uncertainty looming ahead in a country plagued with an economic crisis and insurgency, everyone wants to be prepared for the day Egypt becomes another Syria, which everyone in the MENA region should pray that it won’t happen, or else its consequences will affect the entire region for at least a century to come. There will always be supply if demand is high enough.