Wikileaks: The Egyptian army did not want the son succeeds father

Long denied, both by President Hosni Mubarak as his heir apparent, Gamal Mubarak's ambition, 47 years, one day succeed his father as head of the Egyptian state, now seems almost certain. Powered in 2002 by his father as head of the instances of National Democratic Party (NDP), almost single party that presides over the destinies of Egypt for thirty years, Gamal Mubarak, a banker by profession, received in August, a poster campaign to glory in the big cities.

The script that runs the newsroom of Cairo would be: Hosni Mubarak is to the presidency in October 2011, elected then it is obviously one or two years later, the Rais, who would then have 84 or 85 years, is retired for health reasons and to ensure that the army, the main internal power, is not opposed to the coronation of his youngest son.

"A TYPE THAT DOES NOT EVEN COMPLETED HIS MILITARY SERVICE"

This scenario of dynastic succession, long ago that U.S. diplomats stationed in Egypt are working. In a confidential telegram of May 2007, obtained by Wikileaks and revealed by Le Monde , U.S. Ambassador Francis Joseph Ricciardone, the only one who dares to call in his writings of the Egyptian regime "dictatorship" , notes that already "the machine of PND can well, in time, organize an electoral victory "[for Gamal Mubarak].

Certainly, he notes, other potential candidate to succeed the Rais, Omar Suleiman , the intelligence chief, who hoped, there are still a few years, be appointed Vice-President [Mubarak, in power thirty years, is the first Egyptian ruler to never have appointed vice-president], "hates the idea of a President Gamal" . It is apparently not alone.

An Egyptian political analyst, received anonymously by the U.S. Chancery in September 2008, told the new ambassador, Margaret Scobey , that "the power base of Gamal is focused on the business community, not the military" . The army, which "must not forget is the true center of power in Egypt" - all the presidents of Egypt since the overthrow of the monarchy emerged from its ranks - do not like Gamal, "a type which has not even completed his compulsory military service " , noted another memo, whose ambitions and liberal reformists, including privatization, threaten its vested interests.

MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS: A RECIPE FOR CHAOS "

Under certain conditions, eg if Hosni Mubarak died before he could devote his son,"it is not impossible that the military refused to adouber Gamal and prefer a coup" , wrote already in 2007 Ambassador Ricciardone. Nothing has fundamentally changed since.
On January 6, 2008, Mubarak father evokes Chancery American qualities of his favorite son: "He's a perfectionist, an idealist always punctual" says Rais. Point, perhaps, but not with his promises.

Since 2005, Gamal Mubarak promised the Americans that every year "next year" , Egypt enact specific anti-terrorism legislation to "stop" the annual renewal of a state of emergency is an opportunity for various Egyptian security forces ( "1.4 million men" , according to another memo), to arrest and imprison about who they want and for as long they want. This law, enacted in 1967, has still not been amended. It is true that in October 2005, already the youngest President told his U.S. interlocutors that a reform of presidential elections to multiple candidates was, he said, "a recipe for chaos" .

Patrice Claude - Le Monde