Mohamed Hussein Tantawi محمد حسين طنطاوي |
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Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces of Egypt | |
In office 11 February 2011 – 30 June 2012 |
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Prime Minister | |
Deputy | Sami Anan |
Preceded by | Hosni Mubarak (as President) |
Succeeded by | Mohamed Morsi (as President) |
Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement | |
In office 11 February 2011 – 30 June 2012 |
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Preceded by | Hosni Mubarak |
Succeeded by | Mohamed Morsi |
Minister of Defence and Military Production | |
In office 20 May 1991 – 12 August 2012 |
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Prime Minister | |
Preceded by | Sabri Abu Taleb |
Succeeded by | Abdul Fatah al-Sisi |
Personal details | |
Born |
Cairo, Egypt |
31 October 1935
Political party | Independent |
Awards |
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Military service | |
Allegiance | Egypt |
Service/branch | Egyptian Army |
Years of service | 1955–2012 |
Rank | Field Marshal |
Commands | Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces |
Battles/wars |
Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Soliman (Arabic: محمد حسين طنطاوى سليمان, Egyptian Arabic: [mæˈħæmmæd ħeˈseːn tˤɑnˈtˤɑːwi seleˈmæːn]; born 31 October 1935) is an Egyptian field marshal and former politician. He was the commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces and, as Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, was the de facto head of state from the ousting of Hosni Mubarak on 11 February 2011 to the inauguration of Mohamed Morsi as President of Egypt on 30 June 2012. Tantawi served in the government as Minister of Defence and Military Production from 1991 until Morsi ordered Tantawi to retire on 12 August 2012.
Tantawi, who is of Nubian origin, joined the Egyptian Military Academy in 1952 and received his commission as an Army officer on 1 April 1955 in the infantry. Later that year he took part in the Suez War (or the Tripartite Aggression as it is often known in Egypt) as an infantry platoon commander. He was promoted to Major in 1961 and commanded an infantry company in Yemen during the North Yemen Civil War. Later in his career he was involved in the Six-Day War of 1967 as a Lt.Colonel and Battalion commander, the War of Attrition of 1967–1970, and the October or Yom Kippur War of 1973. During the Yom Kippur War he was a Colonel and the chief operations officer GSO-I of the 16th Infantry Brigade of the Second Field Army. He held various command and staff appointments including both the Chief of Staff and then Commander of the Egyptian Second Army between 1986 and 1989. Additionally he has served as the military attaché to Pakistan between 1983 and 1985, an important role given the two countries' political and military links. Tantawi served as Commander of the Republican Guard between 1989 and 1991, and later Chief of the Operations Authority of the Armed Forces. In 1991, he also commanded an Egyptian Army unit in the U.S.-led Gulf War against Iraq to force Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, which it had invaded in 1990.