Muhammad Tantawi

Egyptian Field marshal and former statesman (1935–2021)

Muhammad Hussein Tantawi Soliman (محمد حسين طنطاوي سليمان; 31 October 1935 – 21 September 2021) was an Egyptian field marshal and politician. He was the commander in chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces joined the Egyptian Military Academy in 1952 and received his commission as an Army officer on 1 April 1955 in the infantry. The following 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 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 lieutenant colonel commanding the 16th mechanized infantry battalion. He held various command and staff appointments including both the Chief of Staff and then Commander of the Second Field Army between 1986 and 1989. Additionally he served as a military attaché to Pakistan between 1983 and 1985, an important role given the two countries' political and military links. Tantawi served as a Commander of the Republican Guard Forces between 1989 and 1991, and later a 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. On 29 May 1991, following the dismissal of Colonel General Youssef Sabri Abu Taleb, Tantawi was promoted to lieutenant general rank and appointed minister of defense and military production and commander in chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces. After one month he was promoted to general colonel rank, which he held for two years before being promoted to the rank of field marshal, the highest rank in the Egyptian military, in 1993. It is believed that Tantawi would have succeeded Mubarak as President of Egypt had the assassination attempt in June 1995 been successful. Early in 2011, Tantawi was seen as a possible contender for the Egyptian presidency.

On 11 February 2011, when President Hosni Mubarak resigned, after 18 days of protests from the Egyptian people, Field Marshal Tantawi transferred authority to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, headed by himself. The council, overseeing issues with the Chairman of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Farouk Sultan, dissolved the Egyptian parliament, oversaw the referendum over temporary constitutional amendments which took place on 19 March, and presided over summons to justice, for accountability, of Air Chief Marshal Mubarak and many of the former regime's top figures. On a personal level, Tantawi kept a relatively low profile since the handing over of power to the council, only making a first public appearance in an address to mark the graduation of a batch at the Police Academy on 16 May 2011. He opted to leave most public speeches and press releases to other senior members in the council; he also appointed Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and his cabinet. Tantawi also received a number of foreign officials, including British Prime Minister David Cameron and U. S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. After a new series of protests in November 2011, that escalated by 22 November to over 33 dead and over 2,000 injured in the wake of the use of force by the police to quell protests at Tahrir Square and its vicinity, Tantawi appeared on Egyptian national television to pledge the speeding up of presidential elections – the principal demand of protesters – and that the armed forces "are fully prepared to immediately hand over power and to return to their original duty in protecting the homeland if that's what the people want, through a popular referendum if necessary." On 12 August 2012, Egypt's president Mohamed Morsi ordered Tantawi to retire as head of the armed forces and defence minister. Tantawi was decorated with the Order of the Nile and appointed, instead, as an advisor to Morsi; there was speculation that his removal was part of a pre arranged withdrawal by the military from political power in exchange for immunity from prosecution for earlier actions.

Criticism of Field Marshal Tantawi in Egypt was manyfold, including many chants in Tahrir for him to leave. Chants against Tantawi included "Tantawi stripped your women naked, come join us." Protesters also "demanded the execution of Tantawi." Nabeel Rajab, the head of Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, criticized Tantawi for his reception for Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain, in October 2011. "This is a very bad message from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to the international community, the Egyptian and Bahraini people", he said. "Continuing this path threatens Egypt's democratic future", he added.

Tantawi died on 21 September 2021, following a period of ill health.