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October 2, 2015       Share:    

Source: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/09/egypt-amazigh-marginalized-siwa-oasis.html

Who Are Egypt's Amazighs?

(Al-Monitor) Omar al-Naghy - Unlike many other parts of Egypt, the Siwa Oasis, located 50 km. east of the Libyan border and 560 km. from Cairo, is practically free of attempts of theft, fraud and sexual, physical or verbal harassment. About 30,000 Amazighs (Berbers) live along the Egyptian-Libyan border in the Siwa Oasis. According to historian Tariq Jahlan, in Egypt there are about 12 million people with Amazigh origins. Fathi al-Kilani, the sheikh of the Zayanes tribe, one of the biggest tribes in the Siwa Oasis, said in 2013, "The oasis contains 11 tribes of Amazigh origin, who speak the Amazigh language, which they learn before Arabic." The oasis contains nearly 300,000 date palms and 70,000 olive trees, and is a source for the production of salt.

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