Emmanuel Konde
Monarchy was extinguished in Egypt by the Free Officers Revolution of July 1952. The last Egyptian king with any semblance of power was Faruq I, who ruled from April 28, 1936 to July 26, 1952. With the overthrow of King Faruq I, the Egyptian military catapulted itself into power and has been ruling Egypt for the past 60 years.
During these sixty years four military men have dominated the power structure of Egypt: General Muhammad Naguib (1901 -1984), the first of these had been projected by the Free Officers as leader of the 1952 Revolution; but Colonel Gamal Abdel-Nasser, at the time only 33 years old, was the power behind the throne. On June 18, 1953 Egypt was declared a republic, which Naguib ruled as President from 1953 to 1954. On November 14, 1954 Naguib was eased out of power and placed under house arrest; Nasser emerged as President of Egypt.
Nasser and Sadat met in 1937 at the Royal Military Academy in Cairo and became close friends and collaborators. Consequently, when Gen. Naguib was quietly deposed in 1954 and Nasser assumed the office of president, he brought his friend Sadat closer to him. Nasser appointed Sadat as Minister of State in 1954; Secretary of the National Union in 1959; President of the National Assembly and Vice President from 1960-1968; and was reappointed Vice President in 1979. When on September 28, 1970 Nasser suddenly died of a heart attack, Anwar el-Sadat became President of Egypt.
Hosni Mubarak (b. 1928) joined the Egyptian Air Force in 1950. He was appointed director of the Egyptian Air Force Academy in 1967 and charged with the responsibility of rebuilding the air force destroyed. Sadat promoted Mubarak to commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Air Force in 1972, and three years later in 1975 appointed Mubarak as his vice president. A few days after the October 6, 1981 assassination of Sadat, Mubarak, who was standing next to Sadat at the fateful military parade, ascended to the helm of state as President of Egypt—a position he has held the past 30 years (1981-2011). As can be deduced, a culture of military officer loyalty is the established order of the Egyptian military ruling class since 1952. Mubarak became a close confidant of Sadat as Sadat had been to Nasser, thus continuing a tradition of loyalty among the Egyptian military that has continued to this day.
The question now is whether this January 2011 Peoples’ Revolution in Egypt, which is about to inaugurate the fall of Hosni Mubarak, can in fact bring an end to the sixty-year interregnum (1952-2011?) of military rule in Egypt. Mubarak, who is on his way out, has appointed two close confidants to lead the political transition in Egypt: Omar Suleiman, 74, director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Services since 1993, as Vice President; and Ahmed Shafiq, 70, former air force commander, as Prime Minister. Is this change in the making or a continuation of the old order? The recent reaignations notwithstanding, an impartial observer cannot but wonder whether Suleiman and Shafiq - integral parts of Egypt’s military ruling class - can transition that country from military dictatorship to civilian democracy.
That is correct Konde. Modern Egypt has been a military government, and the people are fed up. But in Egypt as in Turkey, military has been a bulwark against the more backward elements within Islam, allowing secular society to prosper.
I am wishing the Egyptian people a good outcome at the end of this ordeal.
Posted by: Bumaye | Sunday, 06 February 2011 at 10:26 AM