Omar Suleiman as Egypt Vice President

Omar Suleiman has been appointed to the seat of Egypt’s vice-president by the President himself Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak never had a vice-president since he took office in 1981. With the current violent protests in Cairo demanding that the president leave power, Mubarak may have a successor in the person of his intelligence chief and confidant Omar Suleiman.

Who is Omar Suleiman:

* He has been the director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Services (EGIS) since 1993, a role in which he has played a prominent public role in diplomacy, including in Egypt’s relations with Israel and with key aid donor the United States.

* He was born on July 2, 1936 in Qena, in southern Egypt. He later enrolled in Egypt’s premier Military Academy in 1954, after which he received additional military training in the then Soviet Union at Moscow’s Frunze Military Academy.

* He also studied political science at Cairo University and Ain Shams University. In 1992 he headed the General Operations Authority in the Armed Forces and then became the director of the military intelligence unit before taking over EGIS.