Mubarak hints succession by taking son to peace summit in Washington

Mubarak hints succession by taking son to peace summit in Washington

According to an article posted on Haartz.com President Mubarak taking his son 47 year old Gamal to this week’s Washington peace summit may be the clearest sign yet that he is being groomed to succeed his aging father. The idea itself has been vehemently denied by both Mubaraks however the article writes:

 

“Gamal has long been the center of speculation that he will replace his ageing father – but until now the 82-year-old president has kept his presumed heir at arm’s length during high-profile international engagements.”

 

Gamal is expected to meet with Israeli delegates to the U.S sponsored peace talks with the Palestinians, and may even convene with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Although Mubarak was planning to visit the US the trip was brought forward  in response to an invitation to himself and to Jordan’s  King Abdallah by President Obama to attend the opening session of discussions between Palestine and Israel.

Numerous allusions were made to the President’s health where the article speculates over recent visits to medical centres prompting controversy over his successor.

 

“News of Mubarak’s ailing health has lent increased urgency to speculation over his successor. The president has not said if he will run for a sixth term in presidential elections scheduled for next year, though he has vowed to stay in office until his last breath”.

 

The article highlights that although,Mubarak has not appointed a vice president observers still see Gamal as the likely victor for the leadership asserting that despite denials a recent poster campaign calling for his candidacy has been interpreted as a push by his allies within the governing National Democratic Party to convince doubters of his ability to lead.

 

Moreover sources have revealed that discussions regarding the future of Egypt will be discussed with U.S. government officials during the visit, President Mubarak is expected to call on the U.S. administration to instruct the U.S. embassy in Cairo to end its support of the opposition newspapers which criticize “the inheritance of power”.


In turn the United States is expecting Egypt to forcefully intervene and convince the Palestinian side to demonstrate flexibility in the peace negotiations with Israel. The US will call on Egypt to pressure the Palestinian authority, by threatening to deny them the Arab support in the event of failing to sign a peace agreement in return for a generous U.S. aid to the authority.

 

This in mind, the emergence of former IAEA chief Dr. Mohammed El Baradei onto the political scene has triggered controversy regarding any ‘could be candidate’ planning to nominate. The current restrictive regulations regarding president candidacy has prompted leading political opposition the Muslim Brotherhood to launch an online petition in collaboration with the National Association for change and ElBaradei calling for 7 demands for change. The petition has so far secured a total of over 650, 000 by the groups on their respective websites.

Although the campaign has not been met with lightly the NDP has followed suit calling for the support of Mubarak. Despite denials and refutations concerning the new President it appears that the Mubaraks are here to stay; after all why would Gamal accompany Mubarak all the way to the states?