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A picture taken on June 15, 2005 in Jerusalem shows Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. Mr. Suleiman was sworn in as vice-president on January 29, 2011, the state news agency reported.EITAN ABRAMOVICH

In a remarkable development, it has just been announced that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has appointed his chief of security, Omar Suleiman, as vice-president.

In his nearly 30 years in office, Mr. Mubarak has declined to name a vice-president, not wanting anyone to get ideas as to who would succeed him. Mr. Mubarak himself, a former air force chief, was vice-president to Anwar Sadat and succeeded him in office when Mr. Sadat was assassinated in September, 1981.

The move Saturday likely means one of two things: Either the 82-year-old Mr. Mubarak will leave office in the next few days and Mr. Suleiman will become president, at least until elections in September, or Mr. Mubarak will remain in office until September but Mr. Suleiman will be the public face.

The security chief, in his seventies, is not a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, but has held extensive negotiations with the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, and with the secular Fatah party, in an effort to forge a reconciliation between the two groups.

The United States, in particular, as well as Israel, will be pleased. Mr. Suleiman enjoys excellent relations with the international community.

Mr. Mubarak also appointed Ahmad Shafiq as prime minister - who, like Mr. Mubarak himself, is a former commander of the air force.

Mr. Suleiman, chief of Egyptian intelligence, is the man most often pointed to succeed Mr. Mubarak.

The step indicates for the first time a possible succession plan and also suggests Mubarak's son, who has long rumoured to be a potential leader, has been pushed out of the picture.

The moves comes after five days of protests that have shattered the image of a country that had long been able to crush dissent and opposition through its vast military and security forces.

It may also indicate Mr. Mubarak, 82, will not run again in the planned September presidential elections, when officials had suggested he would stand.

Mr. Suleiman is a tall, slim man in tailored blue suits often seen shuttling between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators as they try to negotiate agreements, and Mr. Mubarak's most trusted aide.

In June, 1995, it was General Suleiman, who insisted, over the objections of the foreign minister, that President Mubarak's armoured limousine be flown to Ethiopia for Mr. Mubarak to use while on an official visit there. Riding into Addis Ababa from the airport that day, Mr. Mubarak, with Gen. Suleiman beside him, came under fire from Egyptian assassins. The group's bullets bounced off the car and Mr. Mubarak's life was saved.

Returning to Egypt, the two men resolved to deal effectively with the threat posed by the Islamist militants in the Gamaa al-Islamiya group and in Islamic Jihad. Under Gen. Suleiman's direction, the country cracked down hard.

Five years later, the normally secretive head of intelligence made his first public appearance at the side of Mr. Mubarak as the two men attended the funeral of Syrian leader Hafez Assad and the installation of Mr. Assad's son, Bashar. It was a clear message, observers say, of just whom Mr. Mubarak values most.

Gen. Suleiman was born in 1936 in Qena, in Upper Egypt, a poor area and hotbed of Islamic activism. But there's not a lot known about the imposing, if taciturn, man. He is said to have excelled in school, entered the military academy in Cairo at 19, and was sent to Moscow for further training upon graduation. In 1991, he was made head of military intelligence and, in 1993, overall head of intelligence.

"They speak of him as 'the sphinx,' " said Emad Gad, head of Israel studies at the Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. "He's completely inscrutable. He makes no speeches; gives no interviews."

A Palestinian negotiator who has met him several times describes him as "rather like Paul Martin when he was [Canada's]finance minister."

"He's the type of person who gets the job done. He has a lot of presence and command. He keeps his promises, but he can also play both sides."

The Egyptian columnist Fahmy Howeidy says his greatest strength is that he is not Hosni Mubarak's son and he's not supported by the business community.

"He's also not corrupt," said Mr. Howeidy.

"Unlike Gamal," says Hisham Kassem, a newspaper publisher, "Suleiman has great credibility with the United States, with Europe, the Arab world, and with Israel. He has experience in all the right areas."

"The powers that be hate the Muslim Brotherhood," he said. "And Omar Suleiman is their hero."

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