Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya's leadership denies that it has joined ranks with Al-Qaeda and has restated its continued commitment to a nine-year-old ceasefire initiative, writes Jailan Halawi In a taped message aired on Saturday on the Qatari-based satellite channel Al-Jazeera, Al-Qaeda deputy claimed that five leaders of Egypt's Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya had joined his network. "We announce to the Islamic nation the good news of the unification of a great faction of the leaders of Egypt's Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya [to Al-Qaeda]...who joined to unite the forces of the [Muslim] nation into one in facing its enemies who are launching the most vicious campaign against Islam," said El-Zawahri. The merger, he continued, was led by Mohamed El-Islamboli, the younger brother of Khaled El-Islamboli, the militant who assassinated President Anwar El-Sadat on 6 October 1981 and who was sentenced to death and executed two years later. Islamboli junior left Egypt for Afghanistan in the mid-1980s. His current whereabouts remain unknown. Zawahri said El-Islamboli had been joined by four other Al-Gamaa leaders: the group's spiritual guide, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, who is serving a life sentence in the US, Sheikh Rifaai Taha, reportedly in prison following his 2001 extradition from Syria, London-based Sheikh Mostafa El-Moqri' and the German-based Sheikh Abdel-Akhar Hammad. Zawahri's announcement was followed by a video including a statement by Mohamed Khalil El-Hakayma, identified by Zawahri as another senior Gamaa leader. Neither Zawahri nor Hakayma alluded to the possibility of launching attacks in Egypt though both emphasised the network's determination to "fight Zionists and Crusaders". El-Hakayma, alias Abu Gihad El-Masri, is 45 years old. Born in the southern governorate of Aswan, he joined the Aswan branch of Al-Gamaa in 1979. He was arrested following President Sadat's assassination and joined the group's Shura Council after his release. He left Egypt in 1988 and though there have been reports he was in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan, his movements remain unclear. Some say Hakayma is now in Indonesia while others believe that he is in Iran. The statements provoked an immediate reaction from Al-Gamaa's historic leaders. On Sunday Al-Gamaa posted a statement on its website www.egyptianislamicgroup.comwww.egyptianislamicgroup.comsaying that Zawahri's words were "lacking in truth". The statement denied any knowledge of Hakayma and claimed he was neither a member, nor leader, of the group. In a telephone interview on Sunday with Al-Jazeera, his first since being released in 2003, Karam Zohdi, head of Al-Gamaa's Shura Council, said that he was sorry "that Zawahri would promote such lies". Zohdi reiterated his group's renunciation of violence and noted that statements made by dissidents from any group could only refer to their personal positions. The Al-Gamaa Web site also quoted Sheikh Abdel-Rahman, who described Zawahri's statement as "irresponsible" in an interview published in the German daily newspaper Der Spiegel. Abdel-Rahman urged members of Al-Gamaa not to follow the dissidents. Speaking to Al-Jazeera on Sunday from his home in Bonn, Sheikh Hammad said that "if [some] brothers have joined, then this is their personal view and I don't think that many Al-Gamaa members share their opinions. This [statement] should be treated cautiously. Al-Gamaa in Egypt has its leaders and officials who will determine its path and direction." One source, speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly on condition of anonymity, described Zawahri and Hakayma as "leaders with a certain influence, at least spiritually, among members of Al-Gamaa". But their statements, he said, should not be interpreted as implying that attacks will be carried out in Egypt: "There is a general air of fury against the policies of America and Israel [among the Arab and Muslim nation] and I see nothing strange for a leader like Sheikh Zawahri to announce the unification of Al-Gamaa factions in resisting those killing Muslims -- be it in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine or elsewhere." He added that while Gamaa leaders support resistance in Iraq and Lebanon, they remain committed to their strategy of non-violence. Diaa Rashwan, a political analyst at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, believes such statements constitute "a call for jihad and for confronting the enemy" but does not think they imply a new wave of violence in Egypt. Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya, Egypt's largest militant group, was behind the assassination of Sadat and launched a series of armed operations against the regime until, in 1997, the group's leaders launched a unilateral ceasefire initiative from prison. The ceasefire has held ever since.
