Cairo  - Egyptian authorities tightened security in parts of the Sinai peninsula close to its border with Israel ahead of a local tribal meeting to be held on Saturday, according to security sources.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said members of the Bedouin tribe of al-Tarabin were expected to meet on Saturday in the village of Naga Shaban close to Egypt's border with Israel.

The tribe was expected to assert its rights to ownership of land, which it said was expropriated by the local government and given to a cement plant in the central Sinai.

The tribe says the government and management of the plant rejected the tribe's demand for compensation for the loss of land and for access to employment opportunities in the plant for members of the tribe.

The Bedouin also want the plant management to allocate part of its profits to projects that would serve the local community.

They also called for the immediate release of all Bedouin detained in past riots in the area.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing scores of police vehicles on their way to the village while more security forces were called in from other areas ahead of the meeting.

Outbreaks of riots by Bedouin in Sinai have frequently erupted in the last years in protest at what the local population perceives as unjust treatment by the government, absence of job opportunities and development projects and shortages of basic services.

Bedouin complain that they are not allowed employment in the lucrative tourism industry in the Red Sea resorts in the southern Sinai. (dpa)