Egyptian’s Muslim Brotherhood Declares War on African Despots
6 min readBy PaanLuel Wel,
Are these the Faces of African Democracy or African Islamocracy?
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Salafi members of parliament are seen during the first Egyptian parliament session, after a revolution ousted former President Hosni Mubarak, in Cairo January 23, 2012
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So Egyptian’s Muslim Brotherhood–whose offshoot is the Sudan ruling party of NCP, formerly known as National Islamic Front–has become an advocate of African Democracy? I don’t know what to make of it but I am very skeptical, if not alarmed, by any talk of regime change engineered by Islamists whose ideology does not go beyond the pale shadow of Islamism and Arabism.
In fact, it is premature of Muslim Brotherhood to embark on ‘Africa democratization’ when there is no internal democracy within its ranks. Like the Iranian Islamists where the cleric reign high and call all the shots, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Shura Council, the highest decision-making organ within the organization, has the final say on anything and everything, second only to god.
The elected members of the national assembly of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)–the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood–are answerable to, and abide by decisions made by, the Shura Council. This was why Dr. Abdel Abuol fotouh, currently a presidential candidate, was expelled from Muslim Brotherhood for going against the decision of the Shura Council by daring to follow his heart and right to seek the office of the presidency.
Yet, the same Shura Council that expelled Dr. Abdel Fotouh for offering himself for the office of the presidency has this week rescinded their earlier decisions and reverse course: they have nominated their own member–the financial godfather of the Muslim Brothers, Mr. Khairat Al-Shater–to contest for the office of the presidency, thus committing the very sin that Dr. Abdel Fotouh was condemned of and crucified for.
If Muslim Brotherhood can’t tolerate internal dissent and is too quick and ready to use force–like the Chinese Communist Party– to expel anyone oppose to their ideas, how can they pretend to be the paragon and champion of democracy across Africa? Most importantly, how are they different from Mubarak’s regime that oppressed them for having different opinion on governance?
I am also curious on a number of things: What is Muslim Brotherhood position on the suffering Muslims of Darfur, Nuba mountain and Blue Nile at the hand of their fellow Muslim Brotherhood of the Sudan? While their position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one-sidedly well-known, what is their position on the suffering Muslims of Kurdistan at the hands of the combined forces of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria?
Are Palestinians entitled to more justice and nationhood than the Kurds; has it anything to do with who the “enemy” is? Are Kurds entitled to the same kind of universal justice and nationhood as champion by the supporters of Palestinian Arabs? Does the suffering of Palestinian Arabs engender the same kind of outrage in the Arab-Islamic world of the Muslim Brotherhood as the immense suffering of the Sudanese Muslims in Darfur, Nuba Mountain, and Blue Nile? How about Chinese Muslims–are they victims or perpetrators of state aggression? Is China too hot a fire to play around with unlike the West that you can vilify or call upon to intervene as time and occasion demand?
In short, is there a double standard in play here–Muslims in the Sudan suffering at the hand of NCP, Palestinians and Kurds plus democratic call by the Muslim Brothers–one that the West is accused of? What is democracy? What is justice? And who is a despot? How about Arab despots in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait etc, will Muslim Brotherhood declare war on them too? Or is the Muslim Brotherhood following in the footstep of the ICC–focusing only on and in Africa notwithstanding the raging atrocities in other part of the world?
While Muslim Brotherhood’s declaration of war on African despots would pass for a perfect April 1 Fool Day’s Joke, the supposedly African despots must rather take the threat/challenge on face value because it is better to be wrong than sorry when it come to issues touching on heavenly-inspired groups such as the Muslim Brothers where even a bad dream springing from a long daydreaming about the urge to ‘declare war on despots’ could be interpreted as a holy instruction from god–one that must be carried out, least the good lord is provoked to unleash his furor.
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Egypt declares war on African despots
Uganda Media Center Executive Director Fred Opolot talks to Mr. Essam El-Arian the Chairperson of the Foreign Relations Committee and representative of the Muslim brotherhood and Party of Freedom and Equality as he addressed the press on Monday. PHOTO BY STEPHEN OTAGE
Monday, April 2 2012
Egyptians are ready to support any political pressure group using democratic means within Africa, to push for regime change of dictators.
The comments were made by the Mr Essam El-Arian, the chairperson of the Foreign Relations Committee representing the Muslim Brotherhood and Party of Freedom and Equality in the newly formed Egyptian Parliament at a press conference in Kampala on Monday. He is in the country together with a delegation of Egyptian legislators currently attending the Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in Kampala.
“To us we will support transitions for democracies through democratic means because a democratic world means a lot to us,” Mr El-Arian said. “We are building a new model of democracy and we are concerned about African democracies. We are concerned about the bi-lateral cooperation between Uganda and Egypt and our meeting with the Speaker of Parliament is because we are keen on our joint cooperation between Egypt and Uganda,” he said.
According to Mr El-Arian, today, Egyptians have the right to protest on any street, have freedom of assembly, expression and speech.
“Nobody can ever suppress Egyptians again because they now see themselves as equals. Future leaders of Egypt must learn from ex-president Hosni Mubarak’s mistakes,” he said.
Asked about his thoughts on the activities of Action for Change (A4C) a local pressure group, Mr El-Arian said it is an internal problem within Uganda he could not comment about. But overall, were ready to support removal of dictators.
“We have experience we can share with the people of Uganda. Egypt as a democracy, will support transitions for democracies,” he said.
He said Egyptians have elected a constituent assembly which is representing the interests of all Egyptians, adding that Egyptians have learnt that the quarrels and mistrust which previously existed before, was a creation of the past regime to keep the country divided.
So far 10 presidential hopefuls have registered for the presidential elections to be conducted in May this year.
sotage@ug.nationmedia.com
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1378528/-/awna30z/-/index.html
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