After having worked for more than 20 years in the shadow of Hosni Mubarak, he came to power to lead the transitional authorities.

Egyptian Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantaoui, former Minister of Defense, died Tuesday, September 21, at the age of 85, the army said. 

When the Egyptian autocrat fell in February 2011, Tantaoui had ruled the country for nearly 18 months at the head of a military council responsible for carrying out the transition period and organizing elections.

During this time, he was often seen as a potential presidential candidate, but his advanced age and health problems had worked against him.   

"Egypt has lost a man, one of the most devoted of its sons, one of its military symbols, who dedicated his life in the service of the nation for more than half a century," the Egyptian presidency. 

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has declared national mourning, the private television station Sada al-Balad reported.

On Twitter, the European Union delegation in Egypt praised the memory of the Marshal who "served his country for decades", while Tantaoui had fought in the ranks of the Egyptian army during three conflicts in Twentieth century. 

After 18 days of a popular revolt, Mubarak resigned on February 11, 2011 after 30 years in power, and handed over his powers to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, headed by Tantaoui who had been his Minister of Defense since 1991. 

Tantaoui, however, was ousted in August 2012 by Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, elected at the end of June, and replaced by General Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, head of military intelligence.  

In July 2013, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who had become the strongman of the country, had in turn dismissed Mohamed Morsi following massive demonstrations demanding the departure of the Islamist president.

A year later, he was elected to the head of Egypt, after having eliminated from the political scene all opposition, Islamist but also secular.  

Head of Mubarak's armies  

Born in 1935, originally from Nubia, in the south of Egypt, Tantaoui began his career in the infantry in 1956, participating in particular in the Suez crisis at the time of the tripartite expedition orchestrated by France and Great Britain. Brittany, as well as the Israeli-Arab wars of 1967 and 1973. 

During the first Gulf War of 1991, he had participated in the coalition led by the United States, at the time of the invasion of Kuwait by the Iraqi forces of Saddam Hussein.

Minister of Defense and Military Production for 21 years under Mubarak, he was also appointed Chief of the Armed Forces in 1995. 

A 2008 American diplomatic cable, revealed by Wikileaks, describes Mubarak and Tantaoui as leaders "focused on the stability of the regime and maintaining the status quo until the end of their mandate." 

"They just don't have the energy, inclination or worldview to do things differently," the cable noted, calling the marshal "old and opposed to change."  

After the uprising in 2011, the army was first hailed for its support for anti-Mubarak demonstrators and the junta led by Tantaoui had promised them "an elected civilian power to build a free democratic state".  

The demonstrators also considered the military institution as a unifying force, less corrupt and less brutal than the police officers of the Ministry of the Interior. 

During this period, Tantaoui was notably forced, under the pressure of demonstrations, to put the former raïs on trial, for complicity in the murder of hundreds of demonstrators during the revolt.  

But quickly, the young pro-democracy activists, spearheads of the revolt, had accused the junta of dragging its feet to launch democratic reforms.

And Tantaoui was removed from his post in 2012 by Egypt's first civilian president, Mohamed Morsi. 

After this eviction, Mohamed Hussein Tantaoui was discreet.

However, he had attended the inauguration ceremony of a second track of the Suez Canal in 2015. 

With AFP 

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