After setbacks in government and repression in opposition, the Muslim Brothers are in retreat in North Africa, In the wake of the Arab Spring a decade ago, groups advocating a parliamentary road to Islamism, mostly linked to the Muslim Brothers (MB, al Ikhwan al Muslimun) rose from the underground as mass protests swept away many sclerotic autocracies. Some found favour with Western leaders such as United States President Barack Obama and Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron.