US reviewing Sinai peacekeeper mission, looks at automating jobs

WASHINGTON — The US military said on Tuesday it has formally notified Egypt and Israel that it is reviewing multinational peacekeeping operations in the insurgency-wracked Sinai, including ways to use technology to do the job of some US troops there.

US officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said using remote surveillance technology could eventually allow the United States to withdraw hundreds of its roughly 700 peacekeeping troops.

Installed to monitor the demilitarisation of the Sinai under the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace accord, the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) mission has come under increased scrutiny over the past year after six peacekeepers were wounded by a roadside bomb. Four US soldiers were among them.

The United States believes that the structure of the more than three-decade old operation may be outdated.

"I don't think anyone's talking about a [complete] withdrawal," said Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, declining to enter into specifics about any potential troop reduction.

"I think we're just going to look at the number of people we have there and see if there are functions that can be automated or done through remote monitoring."

Changing the MFO mission could be a sensitive proposition to both Israel and Egypt.

Cairo sees the MFO as part of a relationship with Israel that, while unpopular with many Egyptians, brings it $1.3 billion in annual US defence aid, sweetening the foreign-enforced demilitarisation of their sovereign Sinai territory.

For the Israelis, the MFO offers strategic reassurance, especially following Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi's toppling two years ago of an elected Islamist regime hostile to the Jewish-majority state next door.

Among the options being considered are use of remote sensors or surveillance to do some of the work in the Sinai, the peninsula that lies between Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal.

"What we are looking at is, this has been in existence for 30 years and the mission has remained largely unchanged," Davis said.

"What we want to be able to do is look at the core things that that mission provides and see how we can leverage modern technologies, remote surveillance capabilities, etc., to be able to carry out that mission."

Egyptian security efforts in the Sinai have suffered major setbacks, including the October 31 downing of a Russian airliner and Friday's bombing of two armored personnel carriers that killed seven.

Daesh insurgents claimed responsibility for both incidents.