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ruled (1981 - present) |
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Mubarak is the current president of Egypt. He served actively in the
army. He was the chief-commander of the air force during the 1973
war (also called Yom Kippur
War). Actually the successful performance of the air force in that
war is accredited to him.
He was promoted as an Air Marshal in 1974. In 1975, President Sadat
chose him as his vice-president and he remained as such until Sadat's
assasination in 1981. He was also made secretary-general of Sadat's
National Democratic Party.
Mubarak was elected president on 13 October 1981. He soon declared
his commitment to Sadat's peace path. He also released
the political detainees who were imprisoned by Sadat.
In the early years of his rule, Mubarak worked hard to restore severed
relations with Arab states and maintain good relations with the
United States and the Soviet Union, later Russia.
Domestically, he introduced economic reforms and granted more political
and press freedoms to the society. In recent years he also encouraged
a privatization scheme planned by the government to reactivate the
economy.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, Mubarak was challenged by terrorist
attacks launched by fundamentalist groups.
In 1995, Mubarak escaped an assassination attempt in Addis Ababa in
Ethiopia, while he was attending an African meeting. In the aftermath
of the attack, Mubarak adopted a hard-line position against extremists
until he successfully uprooted terrorism.
He also supported and took part in the US-led Gulf war in 1990 against
Iraq, which was reaped by the successful liberation of Kuwait.
Also under his rule, Egypt supported and sponsored peace talks between
Palestinians and Israelis.
Mubarak also showed moral support for the US anti-terrorism efforts
following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September
2001.
Mubarak was reelected 3 times by referenda in 1987, 1993 and 1999
with landslide votes supporting him.
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