Former rival to Mubarak dies
2008-09-07 14:34
Cairo - Abdel Halim Abu Ghazala, Egypt's
former defence minister touted in the late 1980s as a contender
to succeed President Hosni Mubarak, died in hospital on Saturday
after a long struggle with throat cancer, security sources said.
Abu Ghazala, who was 78, is to receive a military funeral on
Sunday, the state news agency MENA said.
Abu Ghazala was one of the Free Officers who staged a coup
that overthrew the Egyptian monarchy and fought in every major
Egyptian action from the 1948 Arab-Israeli war to the 1973 war
against Israel.
After serving as Egypt's military attache in Washington in
the late 1970s, Abu Ghazala was appointed Minister of Defence in
1981 and promoted to Field Marshal in 1982.
He championed military reform and a strong alliance with
Washington, and set to work during his tenure building up a
defence manufacturing and industrial base.
In March 1986, after Mubarak was forced to call in the army
to quell an uprising by central security forces, many analysts
and diplomats said the crisis had eroded Mubarak's legitimacy
while simultaneously boosting Abu Ghazala's standing.
But it was not to last. By late 1987, reports began to
surface in the Western press of a collaboration between Egypt,
Argentina and Iraq on the development of a long range missile,
the Condor II - a collaboration that distressed Western powers.
Allegations began to surface that efforts to illegally
acquire US missile technology were linked to Abu Ghazala.
In April 1989, Mubarak moved Abu Ghazala from Minister of
Defence to the ceremonial position of "presidential adviser", a
post with almost no executive power.
Less than six months later, US officials said Egypt had
ended its collaboration with Iraq and Argentina for the
development of Condor II.
In February 1993, Abu Ghazala resigned his post and bowed
out of the public eye.