CAIRO: Former Defense Minister Mohamed Abdel Halim Abu Ghazala passed away Saturday in Galaa military hospital at the age of 78 after a long struggle with cancer.
He was in a coma through the entire week preceding his death after returning from France where he was sent for medical care by presidential decree.
A popular figure, Abu Ghazala received a military funeral fit for this prominent military and political figure who participated in every major war Egypt has entered in the past 60 years.
Born in February 1930 in Al Zohour village at El Behiera governorate, Abu Ghazala graduated from the military academy in 1949 after participating in the 1948 Palestine War as a student.
After graduating from Nasser’s Higher Military Academy, Abu Ghazala received a degree from the Stalin academy in the former Soviet Union as well as a management MA from Cairo University.
In 1981 he was appointed by then President Sadat as minister of defense and military production and the general commander of the army. In 1982 he was promoted to marshal, then became the vice-prime minister and remained as the minister of defense.
However, in 1989 he was appointed an advisor to the president, a move which analysts interpreted as a reflection of the regime’s fear of his increasing power in the army and suspicions that he may lead a military coup against the regime.
His political career and eventual resignation from all official posts was the subject of much controversy.
By 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, Condor II, with allegations that efforts to illegally acquire US missile technology were linked to Abu Ghazala.
Many analysts and journalists also saw him as incumbent President Mubarak’s main contender for the presidency.
In the events of March 1986, after Mubarak was forced to call in the army to quell an uprising by central security forces, many analysts and diplomats said that the crisis had eroded Mubarak’s legitimacy, while simultaneously boosting Abu Ghazala’s standing.
In 1993, the former defense minister resigned from all his posts and disappeared from public life.
He was rumored to have considered running in the 2005 presidential elections but that President Mubarak convinced him to give up the idea.
Abu Ghazala was a member of the Free Officers who led the 1952 revolution to overthrow the Egyptian monarchy.
He received many honors including the Medal of Liberation in 1952, the Order of Independence in 1956, the Medal of Honor in1974 and the Medal of the Republic in 1989.
