Business Insider: by Alexander Dziadosz.
CAIRO (Reuters) – Some 200,000 people died in a decade of civil war in Algeria after uniformed officers rejected a popular vote for Islamists, an example some in Cairo darkly cite after the army ousted Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood president on Wednesday.
While Algeria’s Islamists were never allowed to govern, Egypt’s Mohamed Mursi ran the country for a year, and a widespread sense that he was author of his own misfortunes may deter some who might have taken up arms in his cause.
But his removal could still split Islamist groups that have entered Egyptian politics since a 2011 uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak, an autocrat who repressed them for decades.
Egyptian Islamists such as the Brotherhood and their erstwhile ultraconservative allies risk losing those followers, especially among the young, who conclude Egypt’s democratic experiment has failed and peaceful politics will get them nowhere.
