After the integration and assimilation of the majority of the descendants of
the nomads into the Egyptian population, the current number of those who
can be classified as Bedouin and who still practise mobile livestock herding is
to be estimated at 50,000 at most. The majority of them migrated from the
Arab peninsula in the course of history, such as the Bedouin groups of Sinai,
and the Awlad Ali who live along the western strip of the Egyptian Medi-
terranean coast and across the border into Libya. Others are African ethnic
groups like the Ababda and the Bishariyiin, who speak Kushitic languages and
live in the Eastern Desert on the borders with the Sudan.