Brotherhood eyes Africa presence after losing ground everywhere else

Aya Ezz

Muslim Brotherhood attempts to get out of the dark tunnel in which it placed itself because of the violence it committed in Egypt never cease.

The group has started following new tactics to expand its influence in Africa by organizing conferences in some African states that are far away from the limelight.

These days, the Brotherhood’s tactics are focused on Mauritania.

The 3rd congress of the Muslim Brotherhood’s National Rally for Reform and Development Party, which is due to be held on December 22nd in Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, acquires its importance from the figures expected to attend it.

The congress will witness the first public gathering of Brotherhood leaders, since the downfall of the mother organization in Egypt in June 2013 and its designation as a “terrorist” movement.

The party published the names of the figures to attend the congress on its Facebook page. They include Oussama Hamdan, the head of foreign relations in Hamas, Abdelfattah Mourou, the deputy head of Tunisia’s Ennahda Party, and Said Sylla, the secretary-general of the Union of African Muslim Scholars.

Secrets behind Brotherhood’s new Africa policy

It is worth noting that the congress coincides with the possible suspension of British support to the Brotherhood, despite historical ties between the group and the European state.

British Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, recently accused Islamist movements of misusing freedom of speech in his country.

It is clear, he said, that some Brotherhood affiliates turn a blind eye to terrorism.

He referred to measures taken by the UK toward visa applications submitted by Brotherhood figures.

The same measures are considered by some observers as yet a new British policy to stay away from the group. Such a view is shared by the head of Egyptian NGO, Ibn Khaldun Center, Saad Eddin Ibrahim, who has close links with the Brotherhood.

Ibrahim told a local TV a week ago that the British government considered putting some Brotherhood figures on its terrorism list.

The US State Department, he added, and the White House also considered putting the Brotherhood on a list of terrorist organizations.

The fact that the Brotherhood may lose its main backers, namely the UK and the US, explains why the group seeks a venue in Africa for its gatherings.

The Brotherhood will not hold its congress in Turkey because it wants to stay away from the international limelight. In Mauritania, a country in the farthest western part of Africa, the movement will be away from the radar screens of international media.

More and more Brotherhood leaders are settling down in Mauritania, and other western African states, and launching projects and charities there.

Western Africa is also the scene of growing activity by Saudi Arabia which works to counter extremism there. This makes the mission of the Brotherhood, especially in Mauritania, far from easy.

Saudi Arabia launched a large number of development projects in western Africa. It signed a military cooperation pact with Mauritania in January this year. It also signed an agreement with Nouakchott that allows Mauritanian workers to get employment in Saudi Arabia.

Those attending the congress on Friday will most likely call for calm and avoiding confrontation with Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries, Kuwait in particular.

Mauritanian newspapers expect those attending the congress to call on Brotherhood parties in Arab countries to participate in general elections in those countries.

By participating in the elections, the Brotherhood parties would go closer to peoples in these countries and also change the mental image formed about the group in the past years, so the Brotherhood leaders attending the congress might think, according to the Mauritanian newspapers.

The Brotherhood leaders have been especially calling on their movement affiliates to participate in the next presidential elections in Egypt.

Hamas and the Brotherhood in Tunisia and Morocco … participation, despite separation

Most striking still is Hamas’ possible participation in the congress. The movement severed its links with the Brotherhood in May this year. This separation, some observers say, is more tactical than real. It only shows, they add, that Hamas is capable of demonstrating pragmatism, but at the same time by making it, the movement wants to avoid getting embroiled in the crisis facing the Brotherhood.

Nonetheless, Hamas’ participation in the congress proves that it still loyal to the group.

The same applies to Ennahda movement, which will send a representative to the congress, even as it repeatedly denied links with the Brotherhood.

In August this year, Ennahda leader, Rashed Ghannouchi, told a Tunisian TV channel that his movement had nothing to do with political Islam.

Ennahda is a democratic movement, he said, and it has nothing to do with political Islam.

Statements by Abdelilah Benkirane, who will represent Morocco’s Muslim Brotherhood in the congress, also convey the same meaning.

In June 2016, Benkirane said his Justice and Development Party had nothing to do with the Brotherhood.