Egypt Islamist leader to step down in January

The head of Egypt's most powerful opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, said on Thursday that he will step down in January after five years in post.

Mahdi Akef, 81, has led the Brotherhood, which is officially banned but often tolerated, since 2004.

"I do not intend to renew my nomination for the post of supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood after my term ends in January," he told AFP.

Akef, who spent more then 20 years in jail under two Egyptian presidents, oversaw the Brotherhood's campaign for 2005 parliamentary elections, in which it won a fifth of the seats fielding its candidates as independents.

A gruff and sometimes irascible man, Akef has caused dissent among some of the Brotherhood's younger members, who say he represents an outdated old guard.

A Brotherhood official told AFP that a new leader will be elected by the party's guidance committee of some 100 members.