Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood has formally split after 70 years - a breakup blamed on long-running ideological disputes, but also on a government attempt to further weaken what was once the country’s main opposition group.
The split deals a new blow to the region-wide Brotherhood movement, which has been outlawed as a terror group by close Jordan allies Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In Jordan, some warned that the government’s apparent divide-and-control policy could backfire by pushing more Brotherhood supporters into the ranks of extremists like the Islamic State group, seen as the main threat to the country’s stability.
The new, officially licensed Brotherhood offshoot defines itself as a strictly Jordanian group, saying it cut ties with the regional movement to avoid being branded as militant.
“We were concerned that we would be considered as a terrorist organization if we continued to be a branch of an organization branded as a terrorist group,” the group’s leader, Abdel-Majid Thnaibat, told The Associated Press.
The larger Brotherhood faction, still loyal to the regional movement, alleged the government engineered the division to weaken the group.
“This is a coup sponsored by the regime,” spokesman Murad Adaileh told the AP.
Jordan’s government has declined to address the allegation.
The split was formalized earlier this month when the government licensed Thnaibat’s breakaway faction, and the core movement promptly expelled the defectors.
The status of the second faction now remains unclear.
