Omar Suleiman (politician) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Omar Mahmoud Suleiman
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عمر محمود سليمان
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Suleiman in 2007
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| Vice President of Egypt | |
| In office 29 January 2011 – 11 February 2011 |
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| President | Hosni Mubarak |
| Preceded by | Hosni Mubarak (1981) |
| Succeeded by | Mahmoud Mekki |
| Director of the General Intelligence Directorate | |
| In office 22 January 1991 – 31 January 2011 |
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| President | Hosni Mubarak |
| Preceded by | Nour El Dien Afeefy |
| Succeeded by | Murad Muwafi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 2 July 1936 Qena, Egypt |
| Died | 19 July 2012 (aged 76) Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Political party | Independent |
| Alma mater | Egyptian Military Academy M. V. Frunze Military Academy Ain Shams University Cairo University |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Egypt |
| Branch/service | Army |
| Years of service | 1956–1991 |
| Rank |  Major General |
| Battles/wars | North Yemen Civil War Six-Day War War of Attrition October War |
Omar Mahmoud Suleiman (Arabic: عمر محمود سليمان, Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [ˈʕomɑɾ seleˈmæːn]; 2 July 1936 – 19 July 2012) was an Egyptian army general, politician, diplomat, and intelligence officer. A leading figure in Egypt's intelligence system beginning in 1986, Suleiman was appointed to the long-vacant vice presidency by President Hosni Mubarak on 29 January 2011. On 11 February 2011, Suleiman announced Mubarak's resignation and ceased being vice president; governing power was transferred to the Armed Forces Supreme Council, of which Suleiman was not a member. A new head of intelligence services was appointed by the ruling Supreme Council. Suleiman withdrew from the political scene and did not appear in public after announcing Mubarak's resignation.
Millions of Egyptian citizens involved in the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 opposed Suleiman or Mubarak remaining in power without elections taking place. Human rights groups tied Suleiman's career to a regime marked by widespread human rights abuses, and asserted that many Egyptian revolutionaries "see Suleiman as Mubarak II. However many Egyptians also saw Suleiman as a pillar of the old order who might have served as a buffer between military rule on the one hand and dominance by Islamist groups on the other." Tortured victims and human rights groups charged that Suleiman oversaw the systematic use of torture on detainees and that in at least one instance he was accused of personally torturing a detainee. In response to the 2011 protests, Suleiman blamed foreign influence and appealed to protestors to go home.
Suleiman died at on 19 July 2012 at the Cleveland Clinic at the age of 76 of complications related to amyloidosis.
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Early life and education
Suleiman was born in Qena in Upper Egypt. He lived in Cairo during his childhood, and enrolled in Egypt's prestigious Military Academy there. He received additional military training in the Soviet Union at Moscow's Frunze Military Academy. He participated in both the Six-Day and October wars, and also survived in Sinai under the International Police of the UN. In the mid-1980s, Suleiman earned additional degrees, including a bachelor's degree from Ain Shams University and a master's degree from Cairo University, both in political science. A fluent English speaker, Suleiman was transferred to military intelligence, where he worked on Egypt–United States relations.
Intelligence career
Suleiman became deputy head of military intelligence in 1986, and its director in 1988. In 1993, he became the chief of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service (EGIS). In 1995, he insisted that President Mubarak ride in an armored car during a visit to Ethiopia. A would-be assassin fired on the vehicle, but Mubarak escaped without injury due to the added precautions. His name only became known in later years, breaking the tradition of keeping the name of the Egyptian head of Intelligence a secret known only to senior government officials. It was released in the media around 2000.
In his role as Director of EGIS, the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph called him "one of the world's most powerful spy chiefs". In 2009, Foreign Policy magazine ranked him as the Middle East's most powerful intelligence chief, ahead of Mossad chief at the time Meir Dagan.
According to diplomatic cables leaked to WikiLeaks, Suleiman pledged in 2007 to Yuval Diskin of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) to "cleanse" Sinai of Palestinian arms smugglers.
CIA "rendition" program
Suleiman was directly implicated in the controversial CIA "rendition" program. Journalist Stephen Grey in his work, Ghost Plane, states that after taking over as intelligence director, Suleiman oversaw an agreement with the US in 1995 that allowed for suspected militants to be secretly transferred to Egypt for questioning. Although Suleiman's Egyptian Intelligence was required to provide "assurances" that prisoners handed over through this program would not be subjected to torture, at least one CIA officer testified that such assurances from them were unofficially regarded as being as worthless as "a bucket of warm spit".
Suleiman was accused of complicity in the torture of Al-Qaeda suspects in Egypt, particularly the case of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, who was captured and handed over to Suleiman. The information al-Libi gave under torture was cited by US officials in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq as evidence of a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. Al-Libi later retracted his confession.
Political career
Suleiman was seen as a very close and trusted ally of former President Hosni Mubarak, sharing many of his views on key issues such as Iran, Egypt–Israel relations and the United States, and treatment of the Muslim Brotherhood. Although he was a military man who by law is not a member of Mubarak's National Democratic Party, he preferred suits to military uniforms (head of the EGIS is a civilian and accordingly does not wear a uniform) and was seen as a major link between Egyptian political and military elites. Due to his role in the regional political scene and the lack of an alternative candidate acceptable to Hosni Mubarak, some speculated that Suleiman would succeed Mubarak as President. In particular, he was seen as the choice of the Egyptian military establishment. Suleiman denied any intent to run for election to the office. On 29 January 2011, he was named Vice President of Egypt during the civil unrest, ending a vacancy in the position that lasted almost 30 years. He was sworn in two days later.
On 5 February 2011, a senior Egyptian security source denied reports of an assassination attempt on Omar Suleiman, saying there was no truth to them at all. Fox News reported that an unnamed official in the Obama Administration asserted there was an assassination attempt on Suleiman "soon after Suleiman was appointed", and claimed that it took the form of an attack on Suleiman's motorcade (it was later proved that it happened). Wolfgang Ischinger, host of the Munich Security Conference and originator of the incorrect allegations, later said he "was led to believe that we had a confirmed report but in fact we didn't" and also added that the information had come from an "unsubstantiated source." Later on 24 February 2011, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit confirmed that Suleiman had survived an assassination attempt on 4 February, when a group of unidentified men opened fire on Suleiman's car from a stolen ambulance in Cairo.
According to an interview with the Egyptian ambassador to the United States on 10 February 2011, Omar Suleiman became the de facto President of Egypt after President Mubarak transferred his power to Suleiman. The following day Suleiman announced Mubarak's resignation and governing power was transferred to the Armed Forces Supreme Council. According to the Egypt State Information Service, Suleiman subsequently ceased holding the office of Vice President.
On 6 April 2012 Suleiman announced that he would be running for president, after some demonstration. Suleiman accused the Muslim Brotherhood of planning the assassination attempt on 5 February. Moreover, he accused them of some threats of "SLAIN if he run for the president" that he had received before running for it. Furthermore, the Brotherhood and some Islamists arranged a huge protest against Suleiman whose popularity had grown dramatically.
Death
On 19 July 2012, Suleiman died in a hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, while undergoing medical testing for an unknown problem. The official Egyptian state-run Middle East News Agency reported that Suleiman had been suffering from heart and lung problems for several months and that he had died of a heart attack. Hussein Kamal, one of his assistants, said it was an unexpected event. "He was fine. It came suddenly while he was having medical tests in Cleveland." Preparations began to send his body to Egypt for burial. Suleiman was given a military funeral, with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the former head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, attending.
See also
In Spanish: Omar Suleiman para niños
