Mohamed Hussein Tantawi

Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Soliman (Arabic: محمد حسين طنطاوى سليمان‎, Egyptian Arabic: [mæˈħæmmæd ħeˈseːn tˤɑnˈtˤɑːwi seleˈmæːn]; born October 31, 1935) is an Egyptian Field Marshal and statesman. He is the commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces^[1] and since February 11, 2011, he has been simultaneously the Minister of Defense, and Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the de facto ruler of Egypt. Tantawi has served in the government as Minister of Defense and Military Production since 1991 and was also Deputy Prime Minister in January–February 2011.

Life

Tantawi, who is of Nubian origin,^[2][3] received his commission as a military officer on April 1, 1956 serving in the infantry. He served in the Tripartite Aggression of 1956, the Six-Day War of 1967, the War of Attrition of 1967-1970, and the October War of 1973. He held various commands, and was assigned as military attaché to Pakistan. Tantawi has served as Commander of the Republican Guard, and Chief of the Operations Authority of the Armed Forces. In 1991 he also commanding an Egyptian army unit in the U.S.-led Gulf War against Iraq to force it to withdraw from Kuwait, which it invaded in 1990.

On May 20, 1991, following the dismissal of Lt. General Youssef Sabri Abu Taleb,^[4] Tantawi was appointed as Minister of Defense and Military Production and commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces. He was also appointed as Field Marshal. It is believed that Tantawi would have succeeded Mubarak as president of Egypt, had the assassination attempt in June 1995 been successful.^[5] Early in 2011, Tantawi was seen as a possible contender for the Egyptian presidency.^[6]

2011 Egyptian Revolution

On February 11, 2011 when President Hosni Mubarak resigned, after 18 days of protests from the Egyptian people, he transferred authority to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, headed by Tantawi. The council, overseeing issues with the Chairman of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Farouk Sultan, have since dissolved the Egyptian parliament,^[7] overseen the referendum over temporary constitutional amendments take place on March 19, and have presided over the accountability of Mubarak and many of the former regime's top figures summons to justice.

On a personal level, Tantawi had kept a relatively low profile since the handing over of power to the Council, only making a first public appearance in an address to mark the graduation of a batch at the Police Academy on 16 May 2011. He has opted to leave most public speeches and press releases to other senior members in the council, he also appointed Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and his cabinet. Tantawi has also received a number of foreign officials, including British Prime Minister David Cameron and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

After a new series of protests in November 2011, that escalated by 22 November to over 33 dead and over 2,000 injured in the wake of the use of force by the police to quell protests at Tahrir Square and its vicinity, Tantawi appeared on Egyptian national television to pledge the speeding up of presidential elections - the principal demand of protesters - and that the armed forces "are fully prepared to immediately hand over power and to return to their original duty in protecting the homeland if that's what the people want, through a popular referendum if necessary.^[8]"

Criticism

Nabeel Rajab, the head of Bahrain Center for Human Rights criticized Tantawi for his reception for king of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in October 2011. "This is a very bad message from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to the international community, the Egyptian and Bahraini people" He said, "Continuing this path threatens Egypt's democratic future" He added.^[9]

Criticism of Tantawi in Egypt has been manifold (including many chants in Tahrir for him to leave), although censored, as with this article in the young Egypt Independent. Chants against Tantawi have included "Tantawi stripped your women naked, come join us." According to The Telegraph, protesters have also "demanded the execution of Tantawi."

Also, according to an Egyptian officer writing in The Guardian, " dissent against [Egypt's commander-in-chief and current head of Scaf, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein] Tantawi has grown. Most of the mid-level officers now think of him as Mubarak's right-hand man, and they hate the fact that Scaf's violence has tarnished the army's image in the eyes of the public. ... More and more mid-level officers are turning against Scaf, and against Tantawi."

References

Further reading

• Kechichian, Joseph; Nazimek, Jeanne (1997). "Challenges to the Military in Egypt". Middle East Policy 5 (3): 125–139. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4967.1997.tb00286.x. 

• Neriah, Jacques. "The Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces Under Field Marshal Tantawi: A Recipe for Revolution or More of the Same?". Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=1&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=442&PID=0&IID=6087&TTL=The_Egyptian_Supreme_Council_of_the_Armed_Forces_Under_Field_Marshal_Tantawi:_A_Recipe_for_Rev. Retrieved 13 March 2011. 

External links

• Commander in Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces