Omar Suleiman, head of Egypt's former spy and confidant of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak, has died in the United States, months after his failed presidential attempt to restore the old guard to power after a revolution in national television, the state reported Thursday.
"He was fine. It came suddenly when he was in medical examinations in Cleveland," Hussein Kamal, a subsidiary of Suleiman, who did not give a cause of death, told Reuters.
Suleiman, 76, summed up the state police who suppressed Egypt for three decades. He was an ally of Washington in the fight against terrorism and a key negotiator with the Palestinians and Israelis.
Quickly appointed vice president in recent days the government of Mubarak, Suleiman was overwhelmed, unable to understand the ideals of the uprising that forced the military to seize power in February 2011.
Aftert that Suleiman disappeared from public view for months, the reconstruction as a presidential candidate in the race remains polarized by the Islamists and the Mubarak regime.
His campaign ended in April, when the National Electoral Commission has determined that it had enough authorized signatures on their registration form.
Much of his campaign focused on warning that the Islamists wanted to turn Egypt into a religious state. Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood candidate, was elected president in June.
A good way of spying that has been credited with saving his life in an assassination attempt against Mubarak in Ethiopia in 1995, Suleiman has been criticized by human rights groups for allowing his vast intelligence network Intelligence of torturing suspected Islamic militants. He had close ties with the CIA, especially after the attacks of 9/11 United States.
"When we asked other nations to assist in intelligence operations, Suleiman mukhabarat [intelligence agency] has been willing to take custody of people and the question of Egypt Egypt, and these interrogations have included torture, "said John Sifton, a former researcher at Human Rights Watch who has specialized in issues related arrests and renditions to Egypt, told The Times last year.
"He is directly involved in [the torture], both as a member of the regime and led mukhabarat."
Suleiman was born poor in the Egyptian city of Qena. He attended a military academy and distinguished himself in the Arab-Israeli wars in 1967 and 1973. Appointed head of military intelligence in 1991, when Egypt has cooperated with U.S. forces to expel the Iraqi army of Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. He became head of security of Egypt in 1993 and was essential for Mubarak, who trusted him with the negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians and other international diplomacy and sensitivity.
It was frequently mentioned as a possible successor to Mubarak. This discourse faded in recent years as Mubarak's son, Gamal, now on trial on charges of financial corruption has often been called the heir apparent.
Some analysts suggest that Suleiman, despite their years in the armed forces, can be removed from the military and its commander in chief, Mohammad Hussein Tantawi quarterback.
"Suleiman was always a bridge between the military wing of the regime and the civil wing. It was the military that was more accepted among the civilian elite," said Ziad AKL, senior analyst at Al-Ahram Center for Studies Political and Strategic Cairo.
But sometime during the 18 days of the revolution, he said, there was a point of conflict between Suleiman and Tantawi and the predominance of the military finally took over.
"The acceptance of Suleiman as president was highly unlikely for the military. The military may have felt betrayed that Suleiman, somehow comparing Gamal Mubarak, the business," said AKL.
In his brief tenure as vice president, Hosni Mubarak, only, Suleiman appeared often uncomfortable, a spy forced to the forefront of a revolution could not stop.
And "when he appeared pale and trembling before a microphone 11 February 2011, Mubarak announced that he had resigned. He offered to become interim president, but was rejected, and the army has taken control.
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