Who Is the Muslim Brotherhood? Posted by Meosha Eaton

Feb 1 (Reuters) - After 30 years of President Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian rule, Egypt's opposition is weak and fragmented. The Muslim Brotherhood has the biggest grassroots network with health and other social charity projects.

Here are some facts about the Muslim Brotherhood, which has links with Islamist movements in several other Arab countries.


* ORIGINS:
-- Schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna founded the Brotherhood in the Suez Canal town of Ismailia in 1928, partly in response to the British occupation of Egypt. It was one of the first and most successful movements advocating Islam as a political programme in a modern context.

-- Within 20 years the movement had grown to more than 500,000 members, with several branch movements in other Arab countries.

-- The Brotherhood once had a secret paramilitary section but it now says it is committed to promoting its policies through non-violent and democratic means.

-- Egypt, which sees the Brotherhood as the greatest threat to its survival, has failed to prove any serious act of violence by the movement's leadership for more than 50 years.

-- Brotherhood leaders have argued after social and economic reforms and given the freedom to choose most Egyptians would willingly embrace a form of Islamic law.


* BANNED:
-- The government has repeatedly denied the Brotherhood the right to form a political party, arguing that the constitution, which the government wrote, bans religious parties. The Brotherhood in turn has said it will not seek recognition as a party under procedures which it rejects as authoritarian.

-- The government banned the Brotherhood in 1954 after accusing the group of trying to assassinate President Gamal Abdel Nasser, a charge the Brotherhood has always denied.

-- A long period of repression began to ease under President Anwar Sadat in the 1970s. The ban formally remains in place but the Brotherhood operates openly within limits that vary at the whim of the authorities.


* ELECTIONS:
-- In Egypt the participation of the Muslim Brotherhood in parliamentary elections in the 1980s was followed by its boycott of the elections of 1990, when it joined most of the country's opposition in protesting electoral strictures.

-- In the 2000 elections Brotherhood supporters running as independent candidates were able to win 17 seats, making it the largest opposition bloc in parliament.

-- In the 2005 parliamentary elections, members won one fifth of the seats in parliament, more than any opposition group has held since the overthrow of the monarchy in 1952.

-- However last December the movement said it would shift its political struggle to the streets after November 2010 elections that were "rigged" to ensure it was ejected from parliament.

-- Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) won 420 of the 508 seats contested in the elections on Nov. 28 and Dec. 5. The Brotherhood had held 88 seats in the previous parliament, giving it a platform to attack official policy. It pulled out of the elections after winning no seats in the first round.

* SUPPORT:
-- In the absence of systematic polling in Egypt, no one has a clear idea how much popularity the Brotherhood enjoys. But the group does have an extensive and well-organised network of committed organisers and has won public support through the charitable work of its professional members. They are also influential in professional organisations such as the doctors' and lawyers' syndicates.

-- Government and ruling party officials have been looking for legal ways to reduce the political role of the Brotherhood, official sources say. But in the absence of a workable plan, the government has relied on the police to disrupt the movement's activities. Members can expect to be detained for long periods without trial or charge, especially when elections are imminent.

-- The Brotherhood's main foreign ally is the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which has its origins in the group's Palestinian branch. While non-violent at home, the Brotherhood supports the right to armed resistance to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.

(Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://mediaexpress2.reuters.com/controller/search.action?type=entity&entityId=http%3A%2F%2Fd.opencalais.com%2FgenericHasher-1%2F3ff37ee1-b024-3c0d-ae3c-102db552f364&display=http%3A%2F%2Fafrica.reuters.com/)

D.C. Democrats Accused of Unfairly Supporting Biddle, Posted by Meosha Eaton

By Martin Austermuhle in News on January 31, 2011 of DCList


The D.C. Democratic State Committee certainly didn't win any good government awards with the opaque process through which they selected interim Councilmember Sekou Biddle earlier this month, nor have more recent accusations painted the city's preeminent political party in a favorable light. A struggle is now brewing within the party over whether or not Biddle is the party's chosen candidate, bringing to light the darker side of local machine politics.




Late last week, the D.C. Democratic State Committee sent out an email advertising two locations where Biddle would be collecting signatures for his nominating petitions over the weekend. (It also tweeted the information.) Both the email and the tweet drew the attention of two of Biddle's challengers, both of whom accused the state committee of violating its own bylaws by using official means to endorse the Biddle campaign in its attempt to win the April 26 special election. A Biddle campaign official said that the email was sent independently by the committee; the campaign did not ask for the support.


In an email sent over the weekend to state committee Chairwoman Anita Bonds, Bryan Weaver, a former Ward 1 candidate and current At-Large hopeful, wrote:

While obviously the DCDSC selected Mr. Biddle for the temporary appointment to the At-Large seat on the council, the D.C. Democratic State Committee has not taken action to officially endorse any candidate and the party’s solicitation for volunteers and the use of these forms of social media from the party’s official accounts to promote his candidacy for the special at-large election are an obvious violation of DCDSC’s bylaws. There are at least 13 other Democrats who have taken out petitions seeking election for the At-Large D.C. Council position.

Jacque Patterson, president of the Ward 8 Democrats and a contender for Biddle's seat, similarly chimed in an email to the committee's membership, writing, "When has the State Committee ever sent out one candidates advertisements, literature or anything else when there were more than one Democratic Candidate in the race? It was my understanding Mr. Biddle won an interim appointment, not an endorsement."

But that's not how some of the committee members see it. In an email responding to Patterson's complaints, one committee member defended the decision to back Biddle, whether or not he was formally endorsed:

Good Morning and I must say, at first glance, I agree with Chairman Bonds and really, Democrats - at this point we as a Committee have no alternative except to support Councilmember Biddle. The DCDSC made a cler [sic] choice on who the DCDSC would support for the interim appointment. Based on that I think we have no choice but to continue that support in the special election.

It would be very un-democratic for us to put forth one candidate in the appointment process and support another in the special election.
We must keep in mind that this special election process is different from a normal election wherein the DCDSC has made a preiselection[sic] of a candidate. In a normal election no such pre-selection is made.
Having made the pre-selection decision, we as an organization must support that decision. Since time is short, unless and until otherwise instructed by the full DCDSC, the DCDSC should use what ever resources we have to help Councilmember Biddle.

One source with knowledge of local politics we spoke to stressed that the state committee seemed to be doing what any political machine does -- win the election.
"Certainly Vincent Orange, and probably Bryan Weaver, are better known than Sekou Biddle," said the source. "The entry of [Republican candidate] Pat Mara into the race and Democratic candidates like Josh Lopez and Jacque Patterson whose potential is difficult to calculate but who could cost Biddle votes, has created a circle the wagons mentality among some D.C. Democratic Party leaders and the elected officials who are backing Biddle. The obvious strategy is to narrow the field of Democrats and confront Mara one-on-one."


The problem is that in circling the wagons for Biddle, it may be Biddle that comes off looking worse for the wear. When we spoke to Biddle last week, he was quick to push back against the accusation that he was ever an insider candidate. He certainly had a point -- Vincent Orange, who Biddle defeated during the selection process, was a longtime Democratic Party insider and made no secrets of the fact that he planned on using his connections to the committee to win the interim appointment. But with the city's political establishment and preeminent political party moving earth and water to secure him more than a four-month tenure on the D.C. Council, Biddle has to fight to appeal to voters that may well be turned off by such overt political machinations.
This is especially true when it comes to the state committee, which would be violating its own bylaws in working to support only Biddle. According to those bylaws, a candidate can only be officially endorsed after a candidate forum is held and voting via open ballot grants one contender 60 percent or more of the committee's votes. Even if the January 6 process by which Biddle was selected for the interim appointment was considered a "forum" -- which would be a stretch -- Biddle still didn't receive enough votes to cross the 60 percent threshold to qualify for an endorsement, nor was the voting fully open.


In a follow-up email sent to the committee this morning, Patterson stood his ground.

"I respect the right for every person of this Body to chose the candidate of their choice and campaign for them as individuals, but I question the INTEGRITY of this body and the individuals who would like to make Mr. Biddle not only the appointed candidate but also the endorsed candidate of our Party. I have been a fair and honest candidate throughout these initial stages of this campaign. I have related to every Democrat who has called me that I am in this race until the very end. Now I have people on my campaign being threatened concerning their ability to work on other campaigns in the future. I've been told by people they can't support me publicly because they don't want to lose business pending before the Council."

If that wasn't enough to convince the D.C. Democratic State Committee that he'd fight this until the bitter end, Patterson dramatically concluded: "Fellow Democrats, I am in this race til the end."

African Union accuses ICC prosecutor of bias, Posted by Menelik Zeleke

By Richard Lough

ADDIS ABABA | Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:32pm EST
 

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - African countries support the International Criminal Court (ICC) but its chief prosecutor is guilty of double standards, the chairman of the African Union Commission said on Saturday.
Jean Ping's comments came a day after Africa's foreign ministers threw support behind Kenya's bid to defer the trials of key suspects accused of masterminding the ethnic bloodshed that followed a disputed election in 2007.

That vote, although still to be rubber-stamped by heads of state, is expected to embolden the east African nation to ask the U.N. Security Council -- which helped set up The Hague-based court -- to invoke article 16 and defer or suspend the cases.

"We Africans and the African Union are not against the International Criminal Court. That should be clear," Ping told a news conference at an African Union summit in Ethiopia.

"We are against Ocampo who is rendering justice with double standards," he said, referring to ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

The ICC's active cases all target crimes against humanity committed in the African states of Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Uganda and Kenya.
"Why not Argentina, why not Myanmar ... why not Iraq?," said Ping.

Moreno-Ocampo has rejected criticism from African states, saying the ICC is only a court of last resort for countries that are either unable or unwilling to try suspects themselves.

The ICC is also conducting preliminary examinations to determine whether it has the jurisdiction to open formal investigations in Afghanistan, Colombia, Georgia, Guinea, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and the Palestinian territories.

The case of Kenya's post-election violence was referred to the ICC after east Africa's largest economy failed to set up a local tribunal to try suspects.

The ICC's pre-trial chamber is expected to announce by early March whether Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and suspended ministers William Ruto and Henry Kosgey have a case to answer.

Kenya says it is now better placed to hold local hearings after adopting a new constitution in August that was designed to strengthen the judiciary.

(Editing by David Clarke/Maria Golovnina)

AU: Ban calls for non-violence, respect for human rights as Egypt protests continue, Posted by Menelik Zeleke

Google creates Twitter work around for Egypt, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Lets people use Twitter without Internet connection
* Translates voicemail into Twitter messages
(refiles to fix typo in headline)

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Google Inc launched a special service to allow people in Egypt to send Twitter messages by dialing a phone number and leaving a voicemail, as Internet access continues to be cut off in the country amid anti-government protests.

"Like many people we've been glued to the news unfolding in Egypt and thinking of what we could do to help people on the ground," read a post on Google's official corporate blog on Monday.

The service, which Google said was developed with engineers from Twitter, allows people to dial a telephone number and leave a voicemail. The voicemail is automatically translated into a message that is sent on Twitter using the identifying tag #egypt, Google said.

Google said in the blog post, titled "Some weekend work that will (hopefully) enable more Egyptians to be heard," that no Internet connection is required to use the service. Google listed three phone numbers for people to call to use the service.

Internet social networking services like Twitter and Facebook have been important tools of communications for protesters in Egypt.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Bill Trott)

Egypt to start dialogue with all political parties, Posted by Meosha Eaton

CAIRO, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Egypt's Vice President Omar Suleiman said on Monday President Hosni Mubarak has asked him to start dialogue with all political forces, including on constitutional and legislative reforms, a key demand voiced by anti-Mubarak protesters. The constitutional amendments include easing restrictions on those who are eligible to stand in presidential election. "The president has asked me today to immediately hold contacts with the political forces to start a dialogue about all raised issues that also involve constitutional and legislative reforms in a form that will result in clear proposed amendments and a specific timetable for its implementation," Suleiman said in a televised address.

Constitutional amendments are key demands by Egyptian opposition groups and protesters who have staged rallies since last week in Cairo and other cities to press Mubarak to step down after a 30-year rule.

(Writing by Samia Nakhoul and Sherine el Madany)

Update of Egypt, Posted by Menelik Zeleke

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary _______________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 30, 2011 Readout of the President’s Calls to Discuss Egypt The President has made a number of calls to foreign leaders to discuss the ongoing situation in Egypt. On Saturday, January 29th, the President spoke to Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey, Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Today, he spoke to Prime Minister Cameron of the United Kingdom. During his calls, the President reiterated his focus on opposing violence and calling for restraint; supporting universal rights, including the right to peaceful assembly, association, and speech; and supporting an orderly transition to a government that is responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people. The President asked each of the leaders that he spoke to for their assessment of the situation, and agreed to stay in close contact going forward. ###

UPDATE 4-Over 99 percent of south Sudan votes to separate, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* First official announcement confirms early reports
* Southern leader hails Sudan's president as "champion"
* Independence to take effect on July 9 (Adds details on overall vote)

By Jason Benham and Jeremy Clarke JUBA, Sudan, Jan 30 (Reuters) -

South Sudan overwhelmingly voted to split from the north in a referendum intended to end decades of civil war, officials said on Sunday, sparking mass celebrations in the southern capital Juba. Thousands cheered, danced and ululated after officials said 99.57 percent of voters from the south's 10 states chose to secede, according to the first official preliminary results. "This is what we voted for, so that people can be free in their own country ... I say congratulations a million times," south Sudan's president Salva Kiir told the crowd.

The vote was promised in a 2005 peace deal which ended decades of north-south conflict, Africa's longest civil war which cost an estimated 2 million lives. Kiir, the head of the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), praised his former civil war foe, Sudan's overall president Omar Hassan al-Bashir, for agreeing to the 2005 accord. "Omar al-Bashir took the bold decision to bring peace. Bashir is a champion and we must stand with him," said Kiir, speaking in a mixture of English and the local Arabic dialect. "The project has not finished ... We can not declare independence today. Let us respect the agreement. We must go slowly so we can reach safely to where we are going," he added.

According to the terms of the accord, south Sudan will be able to declare independence on July 9, pending any legal challenges to the results. UNRESOLVED ISSUES Leaders from the SPLM and Bashir's northern National Congress Party (NCP) still have to agree on a list of politically sensitive issues, including the position of their shared border, how they would split oil revenues after secession and the ownership of the disputed Abyei region. "I am so happy. Imagine having schools, no fear, no war. Imagine feeling like any other people in their own country. At least now we feel this is our own land," student Santino Anei, 19, told Reuters. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised north and south Sudan for the peaceful vote but said he was concerned about the unresolved issues. "Peace in north and south Sudan will require statesmanship and patience," he said addressing an African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

Secession campaigners described the vote as a chance to end years of perceived northern exploitation. Bashir, who campaigned for unity, later announced he would accept the widely-expected separation vote. Chan Reek Madut, the deputy head of the commission told the crowd the south had voted 99.57 percent for separation. He later told Reuters the results for the entire vote including southerners in north Sudan and eight other countries -- the U.S. Australia, Egypt, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Canada and Britain --, would be calculated and released early in February.

The commission's website reported on Sunday the overall vote was 98.83 percent, but added that this could change. Five of the 10 states in Sudan's oil-producing south showed a 99.9 percent vote for separation and the lowest vote was 95.5 percent in favour in the western state of Bahr al-Ghazal which borders north Sudan.

(Additional reporting by Richard Lough in Addis Ababa; Writing by Andrew Heavens; Editing by Matthew Jones)

U.N. chief urges Africa to be firm against Gbagbo, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Africa, U.N. must remain unified on Ivory Coast stance
* Condemns attacks on U.N. peacekeepers by Gbagbo forces

By Richard Lough ADDIS ABABA, Jan 30 (Reuters) -

Africa and the international community must stand firm against efforts by Ivory Coast's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo to cling onto power, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said. Speaking to African leaders and top African Union (AU) officials at an African Union summit late on Saturday, Ban rejected Gbagbo's offer of a recount of votes to solve a persistent leadership crisis. Both the United Nations and AU recognise Gbagbo's challenger Alassane Ouattara as the president-elect of the world's biggest cocoa producing country. "We must preserve our unified position, act together, and stand firm against Mr Gbagbo's attempt to hang onto power through the use of force," Ban was quoted as telling the meeting in a statement issued on Sunday. Ban said in Davos on Friday that he was concerned about splits in African efforts to end the crisis.

Within the next 24 hours the AU summit in Ethiopia's capital is expected to name a panel of five African leaders tasked with finding a legally binding settlement to break the deadlock. The pan-African body says it is resolute on finding a "political, peaceful and negotiated settlement" to the Ivorian crisis, but it has not ruled out using force as a last resort. "We have an obligation to remain firm ... and to signal to Africa's people that our commitment to our principles is real," said Ban. Negotiations could pave the way for a form of power-sharing.

A source close to the AU mediation efforts led by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said Gbagbo should not be included in the executive, but his allies should be. Similar arrangements have ended election disputes in Kenya and Zimbabwe, but the politics in both has been problematic. The panel appeared to be more of a victory for Gbagbo as it gives him more time to consolidate his position on the ground. "The putting in place of a commission corresponds with what we have called for. We hope this commission will move forward with total neutrality," said Ahoua Don Mello, spokesman for Gbagbo's government.

Ouattara said in a statement he had taken note of the AU decision to form a panel. But he stressed it should reach conclusions fast because it was nearly two months since the dispute started and the Ivorian people were suffering. Ban also accused Ivory Coast's state broadcaster of spreading hate messages and inciting violence and condemned attacks over the past six weeks on U.N. peacekeepers in the West African nation. "Regrettably ... regular and irregular forces loyal to Mr Gbagbo have obstructed the movement of our peacekeepers, cut their fuel an other vital life support supplies (and) used live fire against them," said Ban.

(Additional reporting by David Lewis in Abidjan; Editing by David Clarke and Elizabeth Fullerton)

Tunisian Islamists show strength at chief's return, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Turnout is strongest showing by Islamists in two decades * Islamist leader calls for democracy * Three days since government announced, protests dry up By Lin Noueihed and Tom Perry TUNIS, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Thousands of Tunisians turned out on Sunday to welcome home an Islamist leader whose return from 22 years of exile indicated that his party would emerge as a major force in Tunisia after the ousting of its president. The reception for Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the Ennahda party, at Tunis airport was the biggest showing by the Islamists in two decades, during which thousands of them were jailed or exiled by President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Ghannouchi was exiled in 1989 by Ben Ali, who was toppled on Jan. 14 by popular protests that have sent tremors through an Arab world where similarly autocratic leaders have long sought to suppress Islamist groups. Protesters in Egypt demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule have been inspired by the example of Tunisia. Ennahda is expected to contest future legislative but not presidential elections, dates for which have yet to be set. The Islamists were Tunisia's strongest opposition force at the time Ben Ali cracked down on them in 1989 but are thought not to have played a leading role in the popular revolt. But at Tunis airport on Sunday, they were out in force. Up to 10,000 young men and veiled women packed the arrival hall and car park. Some climbed trees and electricity pylons to catch a glimpse of the 69-year-old Ghannouchi, who says he has no ambition to run for state office. "Oh great people who called for this blessed revolution, continue your revolution, preserve it and translate it into democracy, justice and equality," Ghannouchi told the crowd, to chants of "Allahu Akbar". Ennahda supporters embraced each other in joy. A group of men performed prayers on a grass verge, a scene unthinkable in Tunisia just a few weeks ago. Ennahda likens its ideology to that of Turkey's ruling AK Party, saying it is committed to democracy. Experts on political Islam say its ideas are some of the most moderate among Islamist groups. SECULAR ORDER IMPOSED Tunisia has imposed a secular order since independence from France in 1956. Habib Bourguiba, the independence leader and long-time president, considered Islam a threat to the state. Ben Ali eased restrictions on the Islamists when he seized power in 1987, before cracking down on them two years later. The protests which dislodged Ben Ali and electrified the Arab world have largely dried up in the last few days following the announcement on Thursday of a new interim government purged of most of the remnants of Ben Ali's regime. The security forces have tried to restore order to the capital, where confrontations between shopkeepers and protesters have indicated dwindling support for demonstrators on the part of Tunisians who want life to return to normal. Ghannouchi told the crowd the path to democracy was "still long". "Unite and consolidate, democracy cannot happen without national consensus and development can only happen with justice and democracy," he said. Ennahda activists wearing white baseball caps tried to marshal the crowds. Asked how they had managed to organise so quickly, one activist said: "Our activities were stopped, but you can't disperse an ideology." Some Ennahda activists were among the political prisoners released under an amnesty granted by the interim government. A handful of secularists turned up at the airport to demonstrate against the party, holding up a placard reading: "No Islamism, no theocracy, no Sharia and no stupidity!" Ennahda and its supporters say they do not seek an Islamic state and want only the right to participate in politics. "We don't want an Islamic state, we want a democratic state," said Mohammed Habasi, an Ennahda supporter who said he had been jailed four times since 1991 for "belonging to a banned group". "We suffered the most from a lack of democracy," he said. Abdel Bassat al-Riyaahi, another Ennahda activist who returned from exile, said: "We were banned for 21 years ... but we came back with our heads held high. "Thank God for the great Tunisian people." (Additional reporting by Hamuda Hassan, Abdelaziz Boumzar, Musab Kheirallah; Writing by Tom Perry; editing by Tim Pearce)