The Brotherhood Hunkers Down

Cairo (AFP) - Unbowed by a savage crackdown, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood promises a war of attrition against the army chief who ousted it from power and appears certain to win next week's election.

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (below), the now retired field marshal who overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and the front runner in the May 26-27 presidential election, has pledged to wipe out the movement.

Since Morsi's overthrow in July, he has been arrested along with the Brotherhood leadership. 

More than 1,400 people have been killed, mostly Islamists in clashes with police.

Across the country the tightly knit Islamists are adapting and even radicalizing.

Their almost weekly protests continue, though smaller in numbers.

And as soon as a mid-level leader is killed or arrested, another readily takes his place, one member said.

At a Cairo cafe, two veterans of the Islamist movement say their years of indoctrination have prepared them for this moment.

"As the Brotherhood, we've been psychologically prepared for the long run," said one who asked to be identified as Ahmed, a pseudonym.

Popular opinion has also shifted against the Brotherhood after Morsi's divisive year in power. Millions had demanded he resign before the army toppled him.

The crackdown since has disrupted the organization's command, and its imprisoned leaders can now pass messages only through visiting relatives and friends.

Ahmed has shaved his long beard, and spoke in a hushed voice across the table from Sayyed, another veteran member who had barely escaped with his life from a protest in August that turned deadly.

"We believe that a prophet preached for 950 years and gained only 80 followers. It's our doctrine," Sayyed said of the Islamic account of the Prophet Noah's life. He also asked to be identified under a pseudonym.

In Ahmed's cell of about eight people, called in Muslim Brotherhood parlance an "usra" or family, one person has been detained.

Several usras form a wider unit called the shu'ba, which combine to form a mantiqa, or district. Much of Ahmed's shu'ba is intact although its head was killed in protest clashes with police.

"According to the guidelines, he was replaced by his deputy. He was then arrested. Council members appointed someone else on the fly."