Mohamed Hussein Tantawi

Mohamed Hussein Tantawi
Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces of Egypt
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 February 2011
Prime Minister	Ahmed Shafik Essam Sharaf
Deputy	Sami Hafez Anan
Preceded by	Hosni Mubarak (President)
Minister of Defence
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 May 1991
Prime Minister	Atef Sedki Kamal Ganzouri Atef Ebeid Ahmed Nazif Ahmed Shafik Essam Sharaf
Preceded by	Youssef Sabri Abu Taleb
Personal details
Born	31 October 1935 (1935-10-31) (age 76) Cairo, Egypt
Political party	Independent
Religion	Sunni Islam
Military service
Allegiance	Egypt
Service/branch	Egyptian Army
Years of service	1956–present
Rank	Field marshal
Commands	Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
Battles/wars	Suez Crisis Six-Day War War of Attrition October War Gulf War
Awards	Liberation Order United Arab Republic Anniversary Order Distinguished Service Order

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 head of state 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 with U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on 25 March 2008.

Tantawi, who is of Nubian origin,^[2][3] received his commission as a military officer on April 1, 1956 serving in the infantry. He took part in the Sinai War of 1956, the Six-Day War of 1967, and the Yom Kippur War of 1973, all against Israel. He held various commands and was assigned as military attaché to Pakistan. Tantawi has served as Commander of the Presidential Guard and Chief of the Operations Authority of the Armed Forces. In 1990/1991 he also took part in the U.S.-led Gulf War against Iraq to force it to pull out its troops from Kuwait, which it invaded on 1990 by commanding an Egyptian army unit deployed in the Gulf theater of operations.

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 has 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.

References

1. ^ "The Cabinet". Website of the President of Egypt. 2005. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20071011174913/http://presidency.gov.eg/html/the_cabinet.html. Retrieved 2007-10-12. 
2. ^ Egypt State Information Service (Official Egyptian government website)
3. ^ Paradise Lost Egypt Today (Google cached version)
4. ^ The Truth Publication Online (2011-02-11)^{[dead link]}
5. ^ Sobelman, Daniel (2001). "Gamal Mubarak, President of Egypt?". Middle East Quarterly 8 (2): 31–40. http://www.meforum.org/27/gamal-mubarak-president-of-egypt. 
6. ^ Morrison, James (2011-01-30). "Cairo in Chaos". Washington Times. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/30/embassy-row-397880904/. Retrieved 2011-02-01. 
7. ^ Egypt Trades Torture Supervisor for 'Mubarak's Poodle'? ABC News, February 11 2011

• Neriah. "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. 

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. 

External links

	Egypt portal
	Biography portal
	Military history portal
	Politics portal

• Commander in Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces

Military offices
Preceded by Youssef Sabri Abu Taleb	Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces 1991–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Youssef Sabri Abu Taleb	Minister of Defence 1991–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Hosni Mubarak as President of Egypt	Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces of Egypt 2011–present

Persondata
Name	Tantawi, Mohammed
Alternative names
Short description	Egyptian field marshal
Date of birth	31 October 1935
Place of birth	Cairo, Egypt
Date of death
Place of death