Muslim Brotherhood Announces ‘Overcoming Power Struggle,’ Denies Concluding Deal with Cairo

Acting leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s “London Front” Ibrahim Munir (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Acting leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s “London Front” Ibrahim Munir (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Muslim Brotherhood Announces ‘Overcoming Power Struggle,’ Denies Concluding Deal with Cairo

Acting leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s “London Front” Ibrahim Munir (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Acting leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s “London Front” Ibrahim Munir (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Muslim Brotherhood’s “London Front,” led by acting leader Ibrahim Munir, published on Saturday the so-called “political document,” in which it announced overcoming the struggle for power.

The Front denied concluding any “political deals” with the authorities in Egypt in exchange for releasing the convicts and those jailed on charges related to violence and terrorism.

The Front affirmed that the Muslim Brotherhood was not seeking power in the north African country, according to the document dated September 18 and published on Saturday.

The document identified three political priorities the front seeks to implement to address what it described as a “critical moment” in Egypt’s history.

These include ending the issue of what it called “political prisoners,” achieving societal reconciliation, and building a broad national partnership that eventually achieves Egyptians’ aspirations for political and economic reform.

It stressed that these priorities require “overcoming the power struggle,” pointing out that it has adopted an approach that includes “various options and paths.”

According to the document, “the Brotherhood’s political role and presence in all public affairs has been, and will remain, a focus of its reform project.”

However, the organization views politics much broader than partisan work and competition for power, the document read.

It stated that “its political responsibility requires it to continue working with national action partners without excluding any party, through a broad national coalition to achieve the goals of living, freedom, social justice and human dignity.”

Conflict has recently risen between the “Istanbul Front” led by former Sec-Gen Mahmoud Hussein and the “London Front” following the emergence of a third front called the “Change Front,” which represented an attempt by the youth to resolve differences among between the Muslim’s foreign fronts.

The majority of Brotherhood leaders lie in jail in Egypt on charges of violence and murder. They were charged after the ouster of president Mohammed Morsi, of the Brotherhood, in July 2013, amid popular protests. The group was shortly banned in Egypt and death and life sentences against its top leaders soon followed.

The Brotherhood has been excluded from the national dialogue called for by President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi earlier this year because of its violent past.

The expert in Islamic movements, Amr Abdul Moneim, said the document preempted the Change Front’s conference, which indicates major differences between the two fronts.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Abdul Moneim pointed out that the London Front announced in the document overcoming the struggle for power, and Munir announced in July his full withdrawal from political life.

He pointed to ongoing discussions within the Front during the past three months to issue a document related to political action, those jailed on terrorism charges, and violence.

He stressed that this is “a war between the organization’s two fronts.”

He referred to the Change Front’s document, which was issued after the London Front published its document.



Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.