Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ALGIERS617
2008-05-27 10:06:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Algiers
Cable title:  

CONTAINING POLITICAL ISLAM: MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD

Tags:  PGOV KISL KDEM AG 
pdf how-to read a cable
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P 271006Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY ALGIERS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5886
INFO RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 2739
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 8942
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 2369
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 7224
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 6394
RUEHNM/AMEMBASSY NIAMEY 1622
RUEHBP/AMEMBASSY BAMAKO 0576
RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 3426
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ALGIERS 000617 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/13/2018
TAGS: PGOV KISL KDEM AG
SUBJECT: CONTAINING POLITICAL ISLAM: MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
LEADER HANGS ON

REF: A. ALGIERS 509

B. 07 ALGIERS 1237

Classified By: Ambassador Robert S. Ford; reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ALGIERS 000617

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/13/2018
TAGS: PGOV KISL KDEM AG
SUBJECT: CONTAINING POLITICAL ISLAM: MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
LEADER HANGS ON

REF: A. ALGIERS 509

B. 07 ALGIERS 1237

Classified By: Ambassador Robert S. Ford; reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: As its tumultuous three-day party congress
drew to a close at the end of April, the (Muslim Brotherhood)
Movement for a Society of Peace (MSP),one of the three
parties in the ruling coalition, re-elected Bouguerra Soltani
as its leader after a power struggle between Soltani and his
rival, Abdulmajid Menasra. Menasra was widely perceived to
have greater popular support among the party faithful, while
Soltani had been criticized for sacrificing party
independence and core values by making too many concessions
to the Bouteflika-led government. Soltani is the preferred
candidate for a ruling elite determined to keep the MSP in
line -- and in second-tier slots in the government coalition.
His victory over the more popular Menasra represents a
victory for the ruling elite, although it came at a price:
Soltani agreed to resign his post as Minister of State
without portfolio and focus exclusively on leading the party.
Soltani also paid a price in personal pride, apologizing
profusely to the party faithful during the opening of the
congress for his "errors in leadership" and vowing to do
better. END SUMMARY.

WHAT A SOLTANI VICTORY MEANS
--------------


2. (C) Soltani's victory keeps the MSP in the coalition, in
line with President Bouteflika's agenda, and under control,
neutralized from pursuing a more aggressive and independent
agenda. As Abdellah Messaoudi, MSP member and head of the
East Algiers section of the Muslim Scouts, told us on May 21,
the differences between Menasra and Soltani were differences
of principle and leadership style. According to Messaoudi,
Menasra, along with a majority of the MSP base, had come to
believe that the MSP had lost its edge, and needed to be --
at a minimum -- more confrontational in ensuring that the
government took action on issues such as the harraga and
economic reform to create jobs. Messaoudi explained that a
majority within the MSP had become disillusioned with
Soltani's willingness to sacrifice "core Muslim values" in
favor of a "leadership by portfolio," accepting Bouteflika's
political agenda in exchange for a share of government

ministries. Menasra and his supporters wanted a more
defiant, vocal and principled version of political Islam,
while Soltani preferred to work within the constraints of the
system - a system he was adept at managing, as a longtime
minister and Bouteflika ally.


3. (C) Messaoudi went on to say that the less charistmatic
Menasra had come to be perceived as a more conservative
Islamist force, intending to steer the MSP back to the basic
principles of political Islam espoused by late MSP leader
Mahfoud Nahnah in the 1990s. Messaoudi conceded that some
members of Bouteflika's government were concerned about this
trend and wanted to maintain the MSP status quo. Ultimately,
however, Soltani's Islamist credentials as a graduate in
Shari'a law carried a great deal of weight among the party
faithful. According to Messaoudi, the combination of
Soltani's greater charisma and the acquiescence of the regime
through influencing the MSP's consultative Majlis Achoura set
the stage for a Soltani victory despite the disillusioned
base.

A DELAYED AND CHAOTIC CONGRESS
--------------


4. (C) On April 29 at an indoor sports arena in Algiers, the
MSP party congress began at 1630 -- three hours late.
Foreign diplomats, including many from Arab countries, told
us they had never seen such a delay at any similar event in
Algeria, and most left in frustration as journalists present
began writing stories panning the congress and the MSP's
inability to hide its internal power struggle from the
public. At the scheduled starting time the arena was largely
empty, save for a smattering of party members carrying signs
indicating where regional delegations were to be seated. For
weeks leading up to the congress, the Algerian press featured
prominent stories on the struggle between Soltani and
Menasra, with many portraying the incumbent as embattled and

ALGIERS 00000617 002 OF 003


the challenger as a rising force. As an indication of
Menasra's support among the party rank-and-file, several
weeks before the congress a retreat was organized in Blida by
the family of Cheikh Nahnah, who died in 2003. Menasra was
featured as honored guest, while Soltani did not even attend.


FIGHTING OVER ACCESS BADGES
--------------


5. (C) While we were waiting for the congress to begin,
several MSP members, from both the Menasra and Soltani camps,
told us what was responsible for the delay. The congress
organizing committee had been elected directly by the party
members, and was controlled by Menasra. That committee
controlled the issuance of access badges, which are normally
given on a priority basis to voting delegates selected before
the congress by wilaya (provincial) party leaders. Soltani's
central party leadership controls the wilayas and, by
extension, the voting delegates. The organizing committee
tried to break Soltani's grip on the party by handing out
badges to "populist" party members instead of the officially
selected delegates. Soltani loyalists, the delegates were
expected to produce a predictable vote outcome, and an
impasse resulted when Soltani was informed that they were
being blocked. The MSP leadership struggled for hours over
the list of badge holders, allowing a mere trickle of party
members access to the arena. Finally, the official voting
delegates were seated and the congress began, three hours
late.

CONCESSIONS, DEALS AND SIGNS
--------------


6. (C) Over the next three days, Menasra was ultimately
forced to withdraw his name from consideration and Soltani
was re-anointed as party leader. Ahmed Issaad, head of MSP's
parliamentary bloc, told us on May 12 that Soltani was forced
in return to make some conciliatory gestures to the party
majority who supported Menasra. According to Issaad, the
Menasra supporters demanded that Soltani resign his personal
post as Minister of State without portfolio, believing him to
be too close to the Bouteflika-led ruling elite. Soltani's
departure from the government would occur over the next few
months, according to Issaad, but would not affect MSP's
status as a member of the government coalition. He also
confirmed that Menasra would remain one of the MSP's top
leadership figures, and his loss in the leadership struggle
"did not mean in any way that he lost his political clout
within the party's Majlis Echoura" (ruling council).


7. (C) In an unusual display of contrition, Soltani
apologized during his opening address to the congress, saying
he had made "numerous errors in leadership" but that these
were based on "pure intentions." He also apologized to the
audience for the delay in opening the congress, and was
harshly critical of the status quo, a stance one MSP delegate
told us was designed to appease the Menasra supporters.
Soltani stated that "Non-Aligned Movement and Cold War ideas"
would not lead Algeria forward, and that the country needed
to change from a "village mentality to a screen mentality."


8. (C) The surprise appearance of Ahmed Ouyahia (ref A),
leader of the coalition partner National Democratic Rally
(RND),served as an olive branch between two politicians
whose relationship has not always been warm. Ouyahia's
speech, in which he referred to Soltani as "my dear brother,"
was interpreted by several journalists we spoke to at the
congress as a blessing from the Algerian leadership (the
"Pouvoir") and a sign that the ruling coalition was in good
health -- as long as the MSP remained in Soltani's hands.
Ouyahia highlighted his support for moderate Islam, thanking
the MSP for its "positive presence in the 1990s" and
referring to "the MSP of Cheikh Nahnah" as a "school of
democracy." He also praised the memory of Mohamed
Bouslimani, a founding MSP member who was found buried with
his throat slit in 1994, a killing believed at the time to be
the work of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA).

COMMENT: TRIUMPH OF THE SYSTEM
--------------


ALGIERS 00000617 003 OF 003



9. (C) The MSP's relationship to the Bouteflika-led ruling
elite is a symbiotic one: Bjouteflika and his entourage need
the MSP's Islamist credentials to boost their credibility
with elements of the Islamist electorate, and the MSP needs
Bouteflika's people to access secondary levers of power and
to avoid being marginalized by a regime adept at dividing and
conquering political Islam (ref B). It is notable that MSP
receives only less sensitive ministerial posts, for example.
The MSP can have Commerce or Small Business, but not National
Education or Higher Education and certainly not Justice or a
security-related ministerial post. The MSP base knows this,
and Soltani had to make concessions to a party base that
believed him to be too blatantly in bed with the Bouteflika
team. Menasra's support grew out of a disillusionment with
the party's perceived lack of independence and softened core
values. By resigning his ministerial post (which
significantly has no actual portfolio),apologizing for past
wrongs and adopting a more critical approach to the
government (at least during the congress),Soltani maintained
his grip on the MSP. In the end the Bouteflika team won, as
their man remained in power and the MSP itself remained a
tamed -- and probably weakened -- ally.
FORD