Central Security Forces

The 350,000 strong Central Security Forces are an Egyptian paramilitary force which is responsible for the security of public buildings, foreign embassies and missions, and major tourist hotels and sites. It also assists the Egyptian National Police (ENP) in traffic, crowd control and disaster response.

History

After the 1979 Camp David peace treaty with Israel and the subsequent Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula The Treaty stipulated the Egyptian government refrain from deploying regular Armed forces units in the area of Sinai that directly border Israel. The Egyptian government then created the Central Security Forces which emulates a motorized light infantry force without the heavy weapons and equipment and attached them to the Ministry of Interior, In effect deploying a more capable force than the ENP in the eastern part of the Sinai.

The Egyptian government subsequently came to rely heavily on this security force to quench any source of instability from within the country and to uphold the emergency laws imposed on Egypt since the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. The government uses the CSF to deal with student unrest, strike breaking, intimidating peasant demonstrators, and containing the activities of Islamic activists.

Organization

The CSF is headed by a Director General and is organized as follows:
* General Headquarters - Cairo
* Special Operations
* 8 Regions - Cairo, Alexandria, Giza, Central Nile Delta, Eastern Nile Delta, Suez Canal and Sinai, Southern Upper Egypt, and Northern Upper Egypt.

Recruitment

The Central Security Forces recruits entirely from uneducated peasant conscripts as the more educated and college graduates usually end up in the different branches of the regular military service.

The Mutiny

In the mid 1980s, personnel of the CSF staged a four day mutiny due to the spread of rumors among its conscripts of extending their three years conscription time, the insurrection was suppressed by Egyptian army and national guard forces. They rampaged through downtown Cairo burning hotels and shops in the tourist areas near Giza. They also burned hundreds of cars and buses. Over 8,000 members were reportedly missing while another 20,000 were summarily dismissed from service.

After the suppression the government promised to overhaul the force by raising its entry standards, increasing pay and bettering living conditions, most members still lived in tent cities.

See also

*Flags of the Egyptian Armed Forces
*Egyptian Military Industry
*Gendarmerie

References

* [http://orbat.com/site/gd/cwpf_2006/cwpf_display%20version.pdf] Paramilitary forces at ORBAT.com
* [http://www.mmc.gov.eg/ Egyptian Armed Forces]
* [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+eg0176) CSF at Egypt Country Study]
* [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/eg.html CIA World Factbook]
* [http://www.fas.org/main/content.jsp?formAction=297&contentId=196 FAS]
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/egypt/ GlobalSecurity]