Hussein Hamouda, an Egyptian expert on international terrorism and chief of the peacekeeping mission in Darfur, warned of possible attacks on vital installations during the presidential election. “These facilities could be an easy target for counterrevolutionaries taking advantage of the army and the police who are busy with securing the election,” he said.
Hamouda sent a security plan to the Interior Ministry and to Parliament, recommending that the army and the police tighten security at such facilities, strengthen the security of the various administrative bodies and draw on the help of private security companies during the elections so as not to repeat incidents like the theft of Van Gogh’s Poppy Flowers or the arson of the Institut d'Egypte.
The plan also aims to secure the personnel, sites and locations related to the electoral process through joint army and police patrols, like during the parliamentary elections. The plan aims to prevent a repeat of incidents like the assault on Mohamed ElBaradei while he was casting his vote in the constitutional referendum.
The plan secures members of the media and the various civil society organizations, roads leading to the poll stations, and the routes for transporting ballot boxes.
Hamouda also recommended monitoring and prosecuting fugitive prisoners and the remnants of the former regime who have already threatened to spoil the elections.
He suggested the formation of special forces to hover with helicopters over vital facilities to combat any possible assault with heavy weapons smuggled through the Libyan border, especially sniper rifles, missile launchers, shoulder-mounted RPGs and anti-aircraft weapons.
He also suggested that judicial committees accompany high-readiness NRF troops that combat riot and sabotage. Hamouda said a professional crew should film combat to serve as evidence for conviction, and use highly-equipped fixed and mobile control rooms to quickly redeploy troops to sites of tension. He also suggested using armored vehicles as temporary detention facilities to avoid exposing police stations to attacks in attempts to free detainees.
He called for electronic surveillance of poll stations through cameras inside and outside to record the electoral process.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
