Egypt's stateless keep receiving empty promises of citizenship

A correspondent in Egypt

Feb 18, 2021

Umm Yasser, an Egyptian Bedouin woman guide from the Hamada tribe, prepares tea for a group of hikers in Wadi el-Sahu in South Sinai governorate on March 29, 2019, during the first "Sinai Trail" led by Bedouin women guides. - In Wadi Sahu, a village in the southern part of Egypt's eastern Sinai peninsula, made up of humble shacks with corrugated iron and recycled scraps, Bedouins are banking on the return of tourism after the tumultuous years since Egypt's 2011 uprising. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) — Umm Yasser, an Egyptian Bedouin female guide from the Hamada tribe, prepares tea for a group of hikers in Wadi el-Sahu, during the first "Sinai Trail" led by Bedouin female guides, in south Sinai governorate, Egypt, March 29, 2019. — Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images)

The Egyptian Ministry of Interior has recently granted citizenship to three stateless individuals who were born in the south Sinai Peninsula.

In a decision issued Feb. 11, the Ministry of Interior said it was “granting Egyptian citizenship to three brothers who had no nationality — namely Salem Halil Nasr Salem, born in south Sinai on Sept. 25, 1977; Radhia Halil Nasr Salem, born in south Sinai on Sept. 25, 1975; and Abdallah Halil Nasr Salem born on Nov. 5, 2001, in accordance with the fifth paragraph of Article 4 of Law No. 26 of 1975 concerning the Egyptian nationality.”