He may not have quit, but rumours of the Muslim Brotherhood's leader's resignation have exposed a brewing crisis within the organisation, writes Amira Howeidy The Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mahdi Akef has always drawn media attention, not least for his often confrontational statements. When reports emerged on Sunday that he had resigned, the "banned" group became the focus of a media feeding frenzy. Even state-run TV channels, for whom MB news is usually beyond the pale, made a point of announcing it. The independent press went further. On Monday it splashed the news in large type across front pages. The certainty with which news outlets reported Akef's resignation, however, was quickly undermined when Akef himself posted a statement on the Muslim Brotherhood's website refuting the rumours. By Monday, the Brotherhood's website was filled with photographs of Akef at the organisation's headquarters. The message they sought to convey was not hard to understand. For the Brotherhood it was business as usual. In a telephone interview with Al-Ahram Weekly on Monday Akef wondered at the media's "tremendous interest" in the group and its leadership. "I haven't resigned," he said. "The Muslim Brotherhood is fine, and so is its supreme guide." Why the "obsession" with his status, he asked. "If the media cares so much about the Muslim Brotherhood why isn't it writing about the 320 MB leaders who are in prison?" While Akef's purported resignation has been linked with the detained 320, it also came against the backdrop of a dispute with the Guidance Council. Following the death of a council member last month, Akef wanted to bring Essam El-Erian, head of the MB's Political Bureau, on board. The council objected, saying the organisation was due to elect its Guidance Council in January, and the dispute soon developed into a crisis between Akef and the hardliners on the council, led by Mahmoud Ezzat, possibly provoking Akef to threaten to resign. Even if the "resignation" was no more than a threat, as Diaa Rashwan, an expert on the Muslim Brotherhood at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, supposes, it is indicative of the dilemma facing the 81-year-old group after its most dynamic leaders were detained. Figures like the second Deputy Supreme Guide Khairat El-Shater (sentenced to seven years in prison by a military court in 2007), Guidance Bureau members Ali Beshr (serving three years) and Abdel-Meneim Abul-Fotouh (detained last June without trial) played significant organisational, logistical and political roles within the group. Until his detention El-Shater was widely perceived as a moderating force within the organisation, a balance and channel of communication between the more conservative stream in the group and younger cadres advocating reform. Abul- Fotouh, secretary-general of the Arab Doctors' Union and member of the Guidance Bureau, and who is perhaps the most popular face that has represented the MB during the past decade, was also seen as a member of this moderating strand. In its campaigns against the Brotherhood the security apparatus appears to have deliberately targeted members of this wing, thus strengthening the hand of the conservative stream within the organisation. "Either the authorities have mistakenly arrested the more reasonable figures in the Brotherhood or it is a deliberate policy to target them and thus strengthen the hold of hardliners," says Rashwan. The Muslim Brotherhood has been subjected to repeated security clampdowns during the past 17 years. Its leaders claim a total of 30,000 members have been detained. Yet despite the official policy of intimidation members of the group, running as independents, secured a fifth of parliamentary seats in the 2005 elections. But now the policy of continuous arrests has left the group run by men well past their 70s. While there are no reliable statistics on the MB's grassroots base, Rashwan estimates it at half a million. He believes the security policy of targeting the group's most dynamic figures has been carefully calibrated to boost the position of hardliners, leaving the MB's popular base dominated by a strong salafi current. Though Akef denies there is a crisis in the organisation his announcement earlier this year that he will step down next January to allow for "rotation of power" was widely attributed to his frustration with the hardline Guidance Council, or what remains of it. Under Brotherhood by-laws the council has traditionally consisted of 15 elected members, four of whom are currently in prison while a fifth, Mohamed Hilal, died last month. Instead of replacing these with new, elected members, the council co-opted an additional four members two years ago, expanding the number of seats to 19. Technically politburo leader Essam El-Erian could have joined the council to replace Hilal, co- opted in the same way as the four earlier members, but such a move was resisted by the hardliners. "We do indeed clash, we have different views. I shout and say things but at the end of the day we have shura [the Islamic principle of democracy]," says Akef. "There is a problem," concedes El-Erian, "but problems have an end. There is no objection to my person and I don't want personal gains. There is diversity within the MB, but there are no [clashing] streams and this is the strength of the organisation." "The current political context in Egypt is to blame [for the situation in the MB]. There is political stagnation and the Muslim Brothers are always being targeted by the security apparatus. But despite all this, and the obduracy within, we remain the most dynamic political force in Egypt." The excessive media attention the Brotherhood has received in the past week attests to their weight and importance, says Rashwan. The whole episode, he argues, should be seen within the context of the political manoeuvring that is occurring a year ahead of legislative elections which will be followed by the much anticipated 2011 presidential elections, and against the backdrop of the constitutional amendments in 2005 and 2007 that have made it impossible for any candidate outside the ruling National Democratic Party to run for presidency and which also banned the creation of political parties based on religion. Rumours of a possible "bargain" between the MB and state officials, under which the former would endorse the NDP's future candidate in return for the release of some of its jailed members, emerged recently. Both the MB and NDP officials deny such a bargain has been discussed. On Tuesday Al-Jazeera news channel broadcast a lengthy interview with the Brotherhood's deputy leader Mohamed Habib, who confirmed that there was an ongoing dispute between Akef and the Guidance Council, and that the supreme guide had delegated many of his responsibilities to his deputy. So is this "crisis" a turning point for the Brotherhood? "The crisis is ongoing," says Rashwan, "but the group is not collapsing as a result. It will all depend on how Mohamed Habib, the coming supreme guide, opts to lead the group."
