CAIRO — Egypt's Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, who headed
the military junta that ruled after president Hosni Mubarak's ouster in the
Arab Spring protests, has died at age 85, the government said Tuesday.
اضافة اعلان
After his stint as Egypt's de facto leader, he was soon
sacked by the country's first freely elected president, the Islamist Mohamed
Morsi, and spent his remaining years largely out of public view.
A veteran of Egypt's wars, Tantawi had long served as
Mubarak's defense minister and as chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed
Forces. He became the acting head of state after an 18-day popular uprising
ended Mubarak's rule in early 2011.
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi paid tribute Tuesday to
Tantawi as one of "Egypt's most loyal sons" who had served the nation
for more than half a century and run it "during a very critical
time".
Sisi also absolved Tantawi of responsibility for killings
while the military was in power, including of protesters in downtown Cairo and
a Port Said sports stadium, saying: "I swear ... this man is innocent of
any blood (spilled) during that period."
Sisi, who has repeatedly credited
Tantawi with his political
career, declared a period of national mourning without specifying how many
days. The Egyptian Football Association scrapped any celebrations in a domestic
Super Cup match Tuesday.
The US embassy in Cairo as well as the European Union's
delegation and the Arab League offered their condolences, along with Gulf
allies Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
From infantryman to army chief
Tantawi was laid to rest later in a military funeral led by
Sisi and attended by top military brass, ministers and Coptic Christian Pope
Tawadros II.
Soldiers marched carrying commemorative floral wreaths at
the ceremony as a 21-gun salute sounded and a band played nationalistic songs.
Like all Egyptian leaders from the overthrow of the monarchy
in 1952 to the 2012 election of Morsi, Tantawi came from the ranks of the
military.
Born in 1935, and of Nubian origin, Tantawi began his career
as an infantryman in 1956. He served during the 1956 Suez Crisis, and in the
1967 and 1973 Middle East wars against Israel.
After taking charge of the country, his ruling council
quickly said Egypt would stay "committed" to its regional and
international treaties, implicitly confirming its landmark 1979 peace treaty
with Israel would remain intact.
He served as Egypt's minister of defense and military
production for 21 years and became the army chief in 1995.
Despite being a close associate of Mubarak, Tantawi relented
to public pressure and put the ex-president on trial on charges of inciting the
killing of hundreds of protesters during the 2011 uprising.
'Charming but change-resistant'
Tantawi was often perceived as a possible presidential
candidate after Mubarak's ouster, but his age, public opinion at the time and
his reported ill health counted against him.
A March 2008 US diplomatic cable published on activist
website WikiLeaks described Tantawi as "charming and courtly" but
also "aged and change-resistant".
"He and Mubarak are focused on regime stability and
maintaining the status quo through the end of their time," the cable
warned.
The army was widely praised for allowing anti-Mubarak
protests during the uprising, and the junta vowed to pave the way "to an
elected civil authority to build a free democratic state".
But the joy of millions of demonstrators soon turned into
anger, accusing the military of dragging its feet in launching democratic
reforms.
Morsi, less than two months after his election as Egypt's
leader in June 2012, sacked Tantawi and, fatefully, replaced him with then
military intelligence chief, Sisi.
Sisi went on to topple Morsi after street protests against
the Islamist's single year of divisive rule, and himself became president in
2014.
After his sacking, Tantawi largely kept a low profile,
although he was seen attending the inauguration of the "new Suez
Canal" in 2015.
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