Washington, DC – A strategic study published by the Gatestone Institute in New York warns that the continued influence of the Muslim Brotherhood within Sudanese state institutions and the military represents the most significant obstacle to achieving peace. It also prevents an end to the war that has been raging since April 2023.
- Infiltration of state institutions
- Tactical convergence with al-Qaeda
- The Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas: Continued regional support
- The Muslim Brotherhood: The backbone of the Sudanese military regime
- The center of gravity: The Muslim Brotherhood’s grip on the state and the challenge to civilian transition
Infiltration of state institutions
Since the outbreak of the full-scale conflict, the group’s loyalists have not only supported the Sudanese army but have also infiltrated the core of intelligence, political, and military operations. They have also exploited the war to re-establish their influence within the state under the guise of national defense.
Politically, pro-Brotherhood parties and media outlets have worked to undermine ceasefire efforts, reject negotiations, and delegitimize civilian alternatives. Furthermore, they have portrayed the war as an existential struggle against “foreign agents” and “enemies of Islam,” a narrative designed to justify the continuation of the conflict and elevate the group’s status as an indispensable ally in wartime.
Tactical convergence with al-Qaeda
Despite the ideological differences between the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda, Sudan provided a conducive environment for tactical cooperation between the two groups. This allowed extremist networks to operate with minimal constraints, as demonstrated by Sudan’s hosting of Osama bin Laden between 1991 and 1996. Consequently, al-Qaeda was able to develop a financial, agricultural, and training infrastructure, with repercussions that extended globally through assassination attempts and terrorist attacks.
The Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas: Continued regional support
The Muslim Brotherhood’s role extended to facilitating Hamas’s regional operations by providing financial and commercial support and tax exemptions. Furthermore, Sudan served as a logistical conduit for Iranian arms shipments to Gaza, underscoring the pragmatic nature of the relationship between the Brotherhood and Iran. This relationship was based more on shared interests than on religious ideology.
The Muslim Brotherhood: The backbone of the Sudanese military regime
It is clear that the Muslim Brotherhood is not merely an external influence on Burhan’s regime, but rather forms the ideological and organizational backbone of the military establishment. They provide fighters, militias, intelligence support, and political justification for the war, along with regional networks capable of mobilizing funding, propaganda, and external support. In return, the military provides legitimacy, weapons, and access to state institutions, replicating the pattern of Islamist rule under Omar al-Bashir.
The center of gravity: The Muslim Brotherhood’s grip on the state and the challenge to civilian transition
The Gatestone Institute asserted that any attempt to transition to genuine civilian rule requires dismantling the reconstituted power of the Muslim Brotherhood. Ignoring this reality risks repeating the mistakes of the 1990s, when major powers treated Sudan as a conventional state actor while it fostered networks capable of destabilizing the region and threatening US interests. The war in Sudan has multiple fronts, but its center of gravity remains singular: as long as the grip of the extremist Muslim Brotherhood on the state persists, peace will remain elusive. Consequently, instability will continue to be the prevailing policy in the country and the region.
