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From Our Own Correspondent: Egypt and Indonesia

Egypt and Indonesia

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Egypt and Indonesia

Pascale Harter presents stories from BBC correspondents Yolande Knell and Karishma Vaswani

Pascale Harter introduces wit and insight from BBC correspondents Yolande Knell, gauging the lawlessness of the Sinai peninsula, and Karishma Vaswani, meeting the urban 'train riders' of Jakarta.

Pascale Harter introduces personal stories, analysis and insight from BBC correspondents around the world. In this edition:


No man's land?

President Mohamed Morsi has a very full agenda - and a long list of challenges, from the Egyptian economy to concerns over law and order. One of the many issues he'll have to tackle is the increasingly dangerous presence of armed militants in the Sinai desert, Egypt's border area with Israel and Gaza. 

The Sinai has long been a byword for lawlessness - smuggling of goods, arms and people has been a mainstay of its economy for some time. The Bedouin communities on the peninsula have a long list of grievances against the Egyptian state, and little respect for its authority. But as Yolande Knell learnt on a visit to a local Sheikh, recent attacks on Egyptian border guards were signs of far higher levels of risk. 


Tunnel terrors

You can only imagine the kind of commuting mayhem that goes on in Jakarta, one of the world's fastest-growing cities. It makes the edging, shoving and squeezing on the London Underground look like a dance of decorum by comparison. In the Indonesian capital, millions flood into the city each day, joining the workers already there. And the trains are so packed that some prefer to take their chances on carriage roofs for their daily commute. 

Karishma Vaswani has been finding out about the rather extreme measures taken by the authorities to deter them - using everything from brooms dipped in putrid goop to live electricity cables.

(Image: Egyptian Army military policemen carry the coffin of one of the 16 soldiers killed during an attack on a border crossing post in Northern Sinai in a funeral on August 7 2012. Credit: AFP / Getty Images)

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