Mubarak to Die Soon, Reports Paper

[Jacaylbaro]

Mubarak to die soon, reports paper but Egyptian government denies

 

 

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s cancer is terminal and he will die within a year, according to intelligence sources quoted by the Washington Times.

 

Western diplomats are worried whether the 1979 peace treaty with Israel will survive. Both countries retain diplomatic embassies and exchanges, but the “cold peace” has been increasingly chilly.

 

Egyptian authorities have previously denied Israeli and foreign media reports that Mr Mubarak has cancer. It is known that he has travelled to Germany and France for medical care, but the Times report indicates his condition is a lot worse than it seems.

Mr Steven Cook, a senior fellow and Egyptian affairs specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations, told the conservative-oriented newspaper, “When I was in Cairo in May, it was interesting. People were mellow about the prospect of him being ill. Everyone understood the end was near; the estimates were 12 to 18 months.”

 

The Egyptian president has confounded the rumours by appearing vibrant and alert in recent meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, among others.

 

Mr Cook said the public appearances are made possible by drugs, and explained, “I heard that they pump him up with something that makes him able to function, so he can do these meetings and go to these public events.” Mr Mubarak took power in 1981 following the assassination of Anwar Sadat by terrorists linked with the radical Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition party and which is officially outlawed.

 

Mr Mubarak, 82, has run a tight regime, using an emergency law that effectively silences political competitors. His likely successors are either his son Gamal, who has displayed strong skills in economic reforms, Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, or Mohamed ElBaradei, the former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

 

Mr Martin Kramer, a scholar at the Jerusalem-based Shalem Centre and an analyst on Egypt, however, told the Times that he thinks the peace treaty with Israel and Egypt would survive Hosni Mubarak’s death.

 

“Egypt has kept the peace deal with Israel through the wars with Lebanon and through intifadas,” Mr Kramer said.

 

Reacting to the report, Egypt’s Information Minister Anas El Fekky said: “The president is in good health and has been given a clean bill of health by his doctors, following his recent gallbladder surgery in Germany.’’ “We obviously understand the interest in this issue given Egypt’s geopolitical weight, and the president’s role as a force for stability in the Middle East. However, the media reports published on the president’s health are based on nothing more than rumour and speculation without any factual basis whatsoever, including a recent report citing anonymous intelligence sources.”

 

Rumours about Mubarak’s health have rattled markets in the past because he has no designated successor. He has not picked a vice president, the post he held before taking office in 1981.

 

The president has returned to a regular schedule of meetings with visiting officials since having surgery at Germany’s Heidelberg University Hospital in March. On Sunday he met Palestinian and Israeli leaders and other officials. He also appeared on Egyptian television on Tuesday attending a graduation ceremony for the Egyptian police academy. Television footage showed Mubarak standing to pin medals on graduates.

 

The Washington Times report was the latest of several reports questioning the president’s health.

 

The Economist published an extensive report this week on Egypt which described his health as “not good”.

 

Egypt dismissed last week a report in Lebanon’s As-Safir newspaper that Mr Mubarak would travel abroad for treatment.

 

Mr El Fekky said Mr Mubarak was maintaining a full schedule, citing his weekend meetings and recent trips to Algeria and France.

 

Mubarak was to meet Turkish President Abdullah Gul today and was to make a speech to mark Egypt’s national day, he added.

Mr Mubarak has not said if he will run for a sixth six-year term in a presidential election in 2011.

 

If he does not, his politician son Gamal, 46, is seen as a likely successor. Mr Both Mubarak and his son deny any such plan. (Agencies)