Saudi media is reporting on the latest attempt by a Middle Eastern Muslim Brotherhood affiliate to distance itself from the movement. According to the Asharq Al-Awsat report, the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen renounced its ties to the so-called “International Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood”:
September 16, 2016 A prominent Yemeni leader at al-Islah party attributed the renunciation of the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood to what he called ‘political confusion’ for some political powers in the region.
In a phone call with Asharq Al-Awsat, Yemen’s Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Dr. Mohammed al-Saadi, who is also the assistant secretary-general for political affairs at al-Islah party, said that the statement was released to rectify this confusion.
In the meantime, Secretary General of al-Islah party Abdul Wahab Al-Anesi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the announcement was made because of the frequent confusion among political powers, accusing former Yemeni ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh to be the first to link the party with the Muslim Brotherhood after the unity in 1990 when political pluralism was launched in the country.
The party announced in a statement issued on its official page on Facebook that ‘no organizational or political relations link us to the international organization of Muslim Brotherhood, especially that the priorities of al-Islah as a political party are patriotic, and all the efforts exerted with its Yemeni partners lie in ending Yemen’s current crisis so that it can carry out its normal political path.’
The party’s declaration raised doubts as social media has been witnessing for the past two days a long debate on this announcement given that the party had announced in 2013 that it did not belong to the Muslim Brotherhood organization.
Yemeni Political Analyst Najib Ghallab, who wrote a book in 2010 on Yemen, said that al-Islah party was ‘more developed because it was a partner in the regime and was a major ally for Saleh in the security and civil authority; thus, doors were open for the party, which contributed to their understanding of the authority’s techniques more than anybody else, and showed their ability to deal with politics in a more rational way than any other Islamic movement linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.’
The International Organization Of The Muslim Brotherhood led by the Egyptian Supreme Guide, is not the same structure as the Global Muslim Brotherhood and is far more limited in scope. For more information on the International Organization, go here.
The Al-Islah Party in Yemen is identified by an Israeli research center as the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen. This latest move by the Yemeni Brotherhood is consistent with other Brotherhood affiliates in the region who appear tone attempting do distance themselves from the movements. The GMBDW reported in May that the Muslim Brotherhood in Tunisia would “relinquish the label of Political Islam and we reported this week that the political arm of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood had decided to play down the role of religion in the party’s platform.