After the Egyptians people’s June 30, 3013
revolution that ended the Muslim Brotherhood rule, some of the countries that
sponsor terrorism began provide direct support to the group (Muslim
brotherhood), using the Sudanese geography, which represented a gathering point
for the elements who flee from the Egyptian prosecutions.
Since the end of Rabaa sit-in, the Brotherhood
members in Sudan insisted on
demonstrating in Khartoum while raising the Rabaa slogan. They also provided
safe shelters to members of the group like the deputy Brotherhood guide Mahmoud
Ezzat, Wagdy Ghoneim, and dozens of other supporters of the extremist current,
who fled from the crimes they committed against the Egyptian people.
The Brotherhood presence in Sudan contributed to straining the
Egyptian-Sudanese relations, which prompted the Sudanese authorities to conduct
a quick review of their position and to control the Brotherhood's presence.
This led the Sudanese authorities in February
and March 2018 to adopt more severe decisions against the presence of
Brotherhood in Sudan. It ordered members of the group who have Egyptian
nationality to leave the Sudanese territory in response to the Egyptian demands
which represents a major turning point in the branch of the group in Sudan.
The Brotherhood's presence in Sudan has gained
a state of privacy. The ruling “The Sudanese National Congress” party (NCP) has
close ties with the Brotherhood in Sudan, led by Hassan al-Turabi, who was a
prominent member of the party until 1999.
Al-Turabi, then, split from the ruling party
and established another party under the name of the Sudanese People's Congress
Party in an attempt to weaken President Omar al-Bashir’s government.
The paper aims to shed light on the position
of the Brotherhood branch in Sudan from its parent organization in Egypt in the
light of the current developments, both in the local arena in Sudan and in the
regional arena, which entirely call for stopping the extremist activities of
the group.
Firstly: The actual presence of the organization in Sudan
It was expected that the branch of the Brotherhood in Sudan would be one of the
first branches to be established outside Egypt, due to geopolitical
considerations that linked the two countries. There is the Nile Valley which
unite both people, as well as the Sudanese educational delegations in Cairo
which formed a fertile environment for the recruitment of Sudanese. The group
also used to send delegations to Sudan since 1945 to extrapolate the situation
there.
After the group was dissolved in Egypt in
1948, a large number of its Egyptian members - from various disciplines -
migrated to Sudan. This contributed to building an inclusive Brotherhood
movement in all sectors of Sudanese society. The first Brotherhood
organization, led by Babakir Karrar and Mirghani el-Nasri. This group is called
the Islamic Socialist Party.
The political life in the Sudan was
characterized by partisan schisms. There were many splits within the
Brotherhood organization, which led to the emergence of many movements that
carry the group's ideology, but with different names, like:
► The
Socialist Socialist Party: Founded in 1949 - 1954, established by the students
of the University of Khartoum led by Babeker Karrar, and Mirghani el-Nasri.
► The Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan: 1954-1964. The name was selected by the
first general observer, Professor Mohammed al-Khair Abdulqadir.
► The Islamic Charter Front: Founded in 1964 as an Islamic alliance between the
Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafis and the Sufis. Hassan al-Turabi was elected
Secretary-General in 1969.
► The National Islamic Front: Founded by Hassan Abdullah al-Turabi in 1986 to
become an Islamic party.
► The Quran and Sunnah Group: It was established in 1991 and Sheikh Suleiman
Abu Naro was elected as its president.
► The Popular Congress Party: Founded by Hassan al-Turabi in 1999 after his
split from the National Congress.
Over the decades, Muslim Brotherhood members
have gained some expertise in various fields of state administration, during
their participation with m President Jaafar Nimeiri’s regime after the national
reconciliation in 1977. They spread in the civil institutions and various
ministries.
The economic activity of the Brotherhood in Sudan, especially in the area of
consumer goods and luxury goods, has expanded, and they are currently active
in rural cities such as Kassala, Madani, Al-Abyad and others.
Secondly: The conflict of who takes the least
at the international organization
The competition between the organization's
branch in Sudan, along with its parent in Egypt, can be seen on the
international scene. The Sudanese Brotherhood members, driven by some local
successes in the 1990s, believed that it
is their right to lead the organization as an alternative to the Egyptian
branch.
The Sudanese quest to control the
international organization and its rejection of the control of the Egyptian
branch can be elaborated in the following points:
► Leadership Syndrome: One of the things that hit the Brotherhood branch in
Sudan is the overwhelming presence of its leader Hassan al-Turabi, who
considered himself not only the leader of the Sudanese branch, but also the
mother group and the international organization.
► The uniqueness of the Sudanese experience:
The experience of the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan is a very unique experience
as they succeeded more than once in reaching power both in the era of Jaafar
al-Nimeiri and in the era of Omar al-Bashir. Thus, the group's supporters in
Sudan regard them as having more awareness than their Egyptian counterparts.
► Local context: The local context in which
the group originated in Sudan differed from the context in which it originated
in Egypt. In Egypt they worked secretly but in Sudan, it was more public;
conferences were held openly. They also participated in ruling the country.
► Coup against the International group: In
addition to his hostile comments on the international organization,, al-Turabi
in 1987 suggested the establishment of a coordinating body between the branches
of the group and the other Islamic movements. He held a conference in 1988 to
discuss this suggestion, which led to the establishment of an alternative
organization.
Thirdly: Integration and containment
After the conference held in Khartoum in 1988,
the relations between the two sides started to calm as a result of many new
factors, most notably the regime change in Sudan and the need of al-Turabi and
his colleagues to support the Brotherhood in other countries.
The relationship between the two sides has
remained calm over the past two decades, overcoming tensions between Egypt and
Sudan such as the Halaib and Shalatin case and the assassination attempt of
former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
After the June 30 revolution, the Brotherhood in Sudan returned to the scene
because the Sudanese branch provided safe shelters for the fleeing elements
from Egypt. The relationship between the Brotherhood of the Sudan and the
international organization became an integral one. The organization allowed its
wealthy elements to live in Sudan and inject many investments into the Sudanese
market.
However, in the coming period, the relationship may witness fluctuations due to
the regional developments. Since the spring of 2018, the Egyptian-Sudanese
relations have improved significantly, which has been reflected in the Muslim
Brotherhood situation in Sudan. The Egyptian-Sudanese relations is likely to
continue to rise, especially after the expected visit of Egyptian President
Abdel Fattah Sisi to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Thursday 25 October
2018, which represents a great development in relations between the two
countries.
Therefore, the movement of the Sudanese branch has become very limited. On the
one hand, the Sudanese branch lost the opportunity to use the international
organization to re-establish its political presence in Sudan. On the other
hand, the Sudanese government appeared to be incompatible with the group's
policies.
Another point that can not be forgot is the
death of the founder of the Muslim
Brotherhood in Sudan, Hasan al-Turabi, in March 2016. This was a great loss for
the Sudanese branch as the charismatic character of al-Turabi played a pivotal
role in the emergence of the Sudanese branch's ambitions to remove the
dominance of the Egyptian branch .
Finally, it is clear from the previous presentation that the relationship
between the Sudanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and the international
organization was not fixed at one base. But rather, it took many forms and
images. In the beginning, the Sudanese branch sought to deny its subordination
to the parent organization. Then, it started to compete with the parent
organization in Cairo to control and dominate the so-called “international
organization”, and finally the circumstances pushed the Sudanese branch to
retreat again and continue under the umbrella of the parent organization.
