To rhythm of the mother group, Algeria’s Muslim Brotherhood performs last dance of death

Shaima Hefzy

Events have been taking place since the beginning of the current year 2020, in Algeria, while the Brotherhood’s actions have escalated there, similar to what Egypt witnessed by “seizing the spoils” of the popular movement more than 9 years ago, after the revolution of January 25, 2011.

The terrorist Brotherhood has existed in Algeria through its political arm, the Movement for Peace Society, Hamas, since 1990, after it was founded by Sheikh Mahfouz Nahnah, and the movement participated in a presidential alliance with Bouteflika for 10 years, before it withdrew from it in 2012.

In the footsteps of the parent group

The Brotherhood of Algeria is implementing the steps of stealing the revolutions in the smallest detail. It was the beginning of jumping on popular protests, calling for a better life, which the group transformed into political exploitation, from which it manages its interests in closed rooms, following in the footsteps of the mother group in Egypt.

Before 2011, in Egypt, the Brotherhood had strong ties with the ruling regime and its successive governments, ties governed by mutual interest, all of which emerged after the Brotherhood came to power in 2012, before the Egyptians revolted upon them one year later.

In Algeria, the Brotherhood took advantage of the popular movement, and began to inflame the masses, after President Bouteflika’s speech, in which he declared not to run and start new political arrangements for a new republic, and to prepare a new constitution, and that the presidential elections be held at the end of this year, which was enjoying popular approval.

But the Brotherhood in Algeria had another opinion, so it took the initiative to continue the demonstrations and motivate the citizens to raise the ceiling of their demands.

The group even forgot its relationship with the regime and went to cooperate with its opponents – which is also a scenario that occurred in Egypt.

At the end of 2019, the Justice and Development Front party (with an Islamic orientation and calling for the Islamization of society) received a meeting of the Algerian opposition forces to develop a road map denying the road map announced by President Bouteflika.

Compliance initiative

During this period, and in order to achieve their interests, the brothers of Algeria forgot those whom they considered a mujahideen, and they removed themselves from the relationship with Bouteflika, then they launched an initiative under the name of the “Accordance Initiative”, although most of the Algerian parties announced their rejection of them.

The content of the initiative is to elect a consensus president in 2019 who leads partisan and popular subsidized reforms.

The group announced in that it does not intend to run for the presidential elections last year, which is stated in a statement that the National Shura Council considers that conducting presidential elections in principle is necessary for the sustainability of the country’s constitutional institutions.

It indicated that the movement’s failure to run in the presidential elections is due to the provision of conditions for competition and in line with its previous positions.

The decision by the “Brotherhood of Algeria” came after the head of the Justice and Development Front Party, Abdullah Jaballah, declared that it would not participate in the elections, as well as the announcement of former Minister of Information Abdulaziz Rehabi and former Prime Minister Ahmed bin Petour to refuse to enter the electoral race.

Like their counterparts in Egypt, the group abandoned this announcement – in order to achieve a glimmer of hope related to the future of the Brotherhood’s “enthusiasm”, with the coming of the new Algerian President Abdel Majid Tebboune.