No doubt responding to the recent pressure on Qatar to renounce its support of the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamist media is reporting that the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Sudan has said that his organization will never change its name. According to the Middle East Monitor report:
June 13, 2017 at 11:12 am The General Observer of the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan, Shaikh Ali Mohamed Jawish, reiterated on Monday that his organisation will never change its name under any circumstances, Quds Press has reported.
‘This name has a reference, cultural value and a long history,’ Shaikh Jawish explained. ‘It has been in Sudan since 1946.’ He stressed that it is an extension of the Egyptian movement established by Hassan Al-Banna in 1928.
The official pointed out that the Brotherhood name exists in more than 80 countries, although he accepted that a group of defectors are trying to change the name of the organisation in order to get involved in charitable activities. He downplayed the effect of such defectors on the movement and pointed out that charitable and social activities are an inherent part of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Shaikh Jawish stressed that the group is registered in Sudan, has its own constitution which organises its work and no application to change the name has been made. ‘The group will not betray the blood and sacrifices of its martyrs who gave their money and souls and were displaced from their homes for the sake of preaching Islam under the Brotherhood umbrella,’ he insisted.”
In February 2017, we reported that Sudan had been expelling Muslim Brotherhood members in an effort to repair its ties with Egypt. In January 2015, the GMBDW reported on an an announcement by the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan that it wouldn’t participate in the country’s elections. Other GMBDW reporting on the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan has included:
- In Many 2013, the GMBDW reported that the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood had taken the highly unusual step, for the Global Muslim Brotherhood at least, of declaring “jihad” on rebel Muslim groups in the country, a declaration placing the Sudanese Brotherhood in the same category as the so-called jihadi/takfiri groups.
- In January 2011, the Muslim Brotherhood of Sudan called on Arab and Islamic nations to “save Sudan from the US-Israeli schemes to divide it.”
- In February 2010, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood reported that the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan was backing the current President Omar Al-Bashir, who has been charged with war crimes by the international criminal court over the Darfur conflict and the first sitting head of state issued with an arrest warrant.
On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of destabilizing the region with its support for Islamist groups.