GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING (UPDATED): Egypt's President Names Deputy for 1st Time

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Newsmax / Bloomberg

29January2011 3:52pmEST

GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE:  CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak named a vice president Saturday for the first time since coming to power nearly 30 years ago. It was a clear step toward setting up a successor in the midst of the biggest challenge ever to his rule from tens of thousands of anti-government protesters.

Mubarak named his intelligence chief of nearly two decades and close confidant Omar Suleiman, state television reported.

The president had been seen as grooming his son Gamal to succeed him, possibly even as soon as in presidential elections planned for later this year. However, there was significant public opposition to the hereditary succession.

The appointment of Suleiman, 74, answers one of the most intriguing and enduring political questions in Egypt: Who will succeed 82-year-old Mubarak? (read Newsmax report)

According to Bloomberg:

“The president appears to be trying to position the country in a way that if he leaves, the country is in the hands of the military and intelligence,” said Emad Gad, an analyst at the Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, a Cairo-based research firm. “He has to leave or the protests won’t stop. But the army will not remove the president.”

Mubarak also named Aviation Minister and former air force commander Ahmed Shafik as prime minister to replace Ahmed Nazif, who resigned today at the 82-year-old president’s request.

Mubarak’s two appointments may not be enough to placate protesters as they put former military officers in charge of the top three jobs in the country. The president was a commander of the air force. Seventy-three people were killed and 1,000 wounded across the country in the past two days, Al Arabiya television reported, citing medical sources.

“The Egyptian government can’t reshuffle the deck and then stand pat,” State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said in a message on Twitter. “President Mubarak’s words pledging reform must be followed by action.” (read Bloomberg report)