Ahmed Shafik | |
|---|---|
أحمد شفيق | |
 Shafik in 2012 | |
| 49th Prime Minister of Egypt | |
| In office 29 January 2011 – 3 March 2011 | |
| President | |
| Preceded by | Ahmed Nazif |
| Succeeded by | Essam Sharaf |
| Minister of Civil Aviation | |
| In office 18 September 2002 – 28 January 2011 | |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Ahmed Abdel Rahman Nasser |
| Succeeded by | Ibrahim Manaa |
| 10th Commander of theAir Force | |
| In office 7 April 1996 – 1 March 2002 | |
| President | Hosni Mubarak |
| Preceded by | Ahmed Abdel Rahman Nasser |
| Succeeded by | Magdy Galal Sharawi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ahmed Mohamed Shafik Zaki (1941-11-25)25 November 1941 (age 84) |
| Party | Egyptian National Movement[1] (December 2012 – present) |
| Spouse | Azza Tawfiq[2] |
| Children | 3[2] |
| Awards | Medal of Military Duty |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Egypt |
| Branch/service |  Egyptian Air Force |
| Years of service | 1961–2002 |
| Rank |  Air Marshal[3] |
| Battles/wars | |
Air MarshalAhmed Mohamed Shafik Zaki[note 1] (Arabic:أحمد محمد شفيق زكي,IPA:[ˈæħmædmæˈħæmmædʃæˈfiːʔˈzæki]; born 25 November 1941) is an Egyptianpolitician and formerpresidential candidate. He served as the 10th commander in theEgyptian Air Force and later served as 49thPrime Minister of Egypt from 29 January 2011 to 3 March 2011 underHosni Mubarak.[4]
After a career as afighter pilot, and squadron, wing and group commander, Shafik was the Commander of the Egyptian Air Force from 1996 to 2002, reaching the rank ofair marshal. Thereafter he served in the government asMinister of Civil Aviation from 2002 to 2011.
He was appointed as prime minister by PresidentHosni Mubarak on 29 January 2011 in response to the2011 Egyptian Revolution, making him the last prime minister to serve as part of Mubarak's administration.[5] He remained in office for only one month, resigning on 3 March 2011, one day after a contentious talk show confrontation in whichAlaa Al Aswany, a prominent Egyptian novelist, accused him of being a Mubarak regime holdover.[6]
He narrowly lost out in the2012 Egyptian presidential elections toMohamed Morsi, the candidate of theFreedom and Justice Party, gaining 48.27% of the vote, compared to Morsi's 51.73%.
Shafik was born in theHeliopolis district ofCairo on 25 November 1941.[7][8] His parents were prominent members of Egyptian society, with his father, Mohamed Shafiq Zaki, serving as undersecretary at the ministry of irrigation and his mother, Naja Alwi, being the daughter of a notedophthalmologist. After completing his schooling at the Heliopolis Secondary School, he attended theEgyptian Air Academy from where he graduated in 1962 at the age of 21 and became a member of theEgyptian Air Force (EAF).[9] Later in his career, he gained amaster's degree inmilitary science; aFellowship of High War College fromNasser Military Academy; a Fellowship of Combined Arms from the High War College in Paris; a Fellowship of the National Defense College fromNasser Military Academy; and aPhD in "The National Strategy of Outer-Space". Air Marshal Ahmed Shafik received the highest medals and merits during his service.[10]
As a young officer, Shafik served as aMig-19 andMig-21 fighter pilot and was later appointed as fighter air squadron commander. During theWar of Attrition (1967–1970), Shafik saw active service as the Multi-Task Airwing Commander. Subsequently, he took up a post as an air base commander.[10]
During the 1973October War, Shafik was a senior fighter pilot underHosni Mubarak's command. Shafik shot down two Israeli aircraft during the war on 14 October 1973.[11]
During his 40 years of service in the Egyptian Air Force as a fighter pilot, he flew several types of fighter jets including the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 and the Dassault Mirage 2000; he also acted as the wing commander for the Egyptian Air Force acrobatic team. He is also fully qualified on the American-built McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon.[7]
In 1984, Shafik was appointed military attaché in the Egyptian Embassy inRome. He continued in this role until 1986. In 1986, he was promoted toAir Commodore and became commander of a Group and Mig-21 Airbase. During theCSF conscription riot of 1986, President Mubarak wanted the Armed Forces to crush the revolt. He relied on the Air Force to intimidate and bomb some CSF rebels in Cairo andUpper Egypt. The commander who was tasked with the actual execution of the operation was Brigadier/Air Commodore Ahmed Shafik, as Deputy Chief of Operations (Fighter-Bomber) for the Central Air Region. From 1988 to 1991, Shafik served several military senior command positions before he was appointed as the Commander of the Air Operations Department.[10]
In September 1991, Shafik was appointed as the Air Force'schief of staff, holding this position until April 1996, when he became Commander of the Egyptian Air Force. In 2002 he resigned from military service and was succeeded by his chief of staff, Air MarshalMagdy Galal Sharawi.[10]
After retiring from the Air Force, Shafik became theMinister of Civil Aviation on 18 September 2002, not long after the Ministry's formation.[12] Whilst he was the minister for civil aviation, he oversaw improvements inEgyptAir and helped construct a new third terminal atCairo International Airport which was completed in 2008 and opened for commercial operations on 27 April 2009.[13] He continued the position until succeedingAhmed Nazif as the Prime Minister of Egypt on 29 January 2011.
During the course of theEgyptian Revolution of 2011, Shafik was named prime minister by then president Hosni Mubarak on 29 January 2011.[14] Shafik's period in office as prime minister was short-lived, lasting just over a month, after he resigned on 3 March due to pressure from protestors and the opposition. They had objected to Shafik staying on as PM, having been seen as one of Mubarak's old guard.[15] Shafik was alleged to have been a member of theSupreme Council of the Armed Forces that took over power after Mubarak's departure on 11 February 2011, although initial reporting only reflected a poor understanding of the makeup of the SCAF immediately following Mubarak's fall.[16] Shafik was succeeded byEssam Sharaf after he stepped down.
Shafik resigned from office one day after a contentious interview on the EgyptianONTV satellite network in which he was confronted byAlaa Al Aswany, author ofThe Yacoubian Building, onReem Maged's talk showBaladna bel Masry. Al Aswany was highly critical of Shafik during the broadcast, representing one of the first televised public criticisms of a high-ranking government official in Egyptian history. At one point, Al Aswany said about Shafik, "if your son had been one of those who got run over by the police cars, you would not have remained silent like that."[17] Al Aswany furthermore accused Shafik of being a holdover of the regime that Egyptians had struggled to topple, and that he was unfit to represent Egyptians in the post-revolution era.[18]
On 10 July, Shafik made his first public appearance since resigning as prime minister. He attended the graduation ceremony of the Egyptian Air Force Academy class along with the Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces.[7]
In November 2011, Shafik announced his candidacy in theEgyptian presidential election.[7] Shafik's candidacy sparked controversy and protest within Egypt, with many considering him to be a holdover of the Mubarak regime. Shafik's remark that he considers former president Hosni Mubarak to be a "role model" was particularly controversial.[19] At one campaign event, a protester hurled shoes at him, although Shafik was not struck.[20] Shafik's candidacy was noted as supported by many in Egypt'sCoptic Christian minority who are opposed to Islamist candidates in the election.[21]
Along with theMuslim Brotherhood'sFreedom and Justice Party candidateMohamed Morsi, Shafik was one of two candidates who survived the first round of voting on 23–24 May, coming in behind Morsi. The second and final round of voting was held on 16–17 June 2012. Allegations have arisen that the interior ministry handed out over 900,000 ID cards to Egyptian soldiers so that they could vote for Shafik, which would be a major campaign violation. Fellow presidential candidateHamdeen Sabahi, who finished in third place in the first round of voting, asked for the Egyptian election to be temporarily suspended until an investigation could be carried out.[22]
On 28 May 2012, protesters angry at Shafik's advancement to the second round of voting set fire to an office associated with his campaign inCairo. Fellow candidateKhaled Ali said while participating in a protest against the election results inTahrir Square that Tahrir had "toppled Mubarak, and would topple Shafik".[23] The election contest between Shafik and Morsi had been described as a "choice between two of Egypt's most polarizing politicians", and some activists resorted to participation in a hunger strike to protest his candidacy.[24]
Shafik's presidential campaign was characterized by an emphasis on public order and security, and although the rulingSupreme Council of the Armed Forces did not endorse a candidate, American news outletMcClatchy Newspapers pointed to the "conspicuous presence of sympathetic security forces at his campaign stops" as evidence of his close relationship with the military.[20] Shafik used his campaign events to court Egyptian elites and voters wary of an Islamist-led government. He reportedly suggested that he would employ executions and "brutal force" to restore order in the country within a month of taking office.[25]
Although preliminary election results indicated that theMuslim Brotherhood's candidateMohamed Morsi won the second round of elections by a slight margin, the results remained within the margin of error and theSupreme Council of the Armed Forces, with Shafik claiming victory in the election.[26]
On 24 June, the High Presidential Electoral Commission, headed byFarouk Sultan, announced Shafik's narrow defeat by his bitter rival Morsi, with 48.27% of the vote for the former, compared to Morsi's 51.73%.
In the hours following his defeat, it was widely reported that Shafik and his family flew out toAbu Dhabi, wary of potential charges of financial irregularities and electoral fraud, a move he later confirmed onSky News.
Shafik alleged that the election was flawed; Public Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud called for an investigation into the claims.[27] In August 2013, former Israeli negotiatorYossi Beilin stated that an Egyptian official had told him that the true results of the election were in favor of Shafik, but the military gave the presidency to Morsi out of fear of unrest.[28]
Shafik announced that he would launch a new political party, called theEgyptian National Movement, on 24 September 2012.[1]
On 29 November 2017, Ahmed Shafik announced his intention to run in theEgyptian presidential election, but a few hours later announced that theUnited Arab Emirates prevented him from leaving its territory after announcing his intention to run in the presidential election which was denied by the Minister of State for Foreign AffairsAnwar Gargash and said in a series of tweets onTwitter, that there was "no obstacle" for Shafik to leave the UAE, and that the UAE was "sad" to learn that Mr. Shafik was ungrateful. "We facilitated matters for him and we have generously welcomed him, despite our strong reservations about some of his stances," Gargash wrote. On 2 December 2017, Shafik was deported from the UAE toFrance. The next day he left France and arrived in Egypt.[29]
On 7 January 2018, Shafik withdrew his candidacy.The New York Times published an article in which it confirmed that Shafik's withdrawal was based on threats made by theEgyptian government with old corruption charges and an alleged sex tape.The New York Times confirmed having audio recordings from an officer in one of the Egyptian security services, Ashraf al-Kholi, instructing a number of media professionals to put pressure on public opinion on the former candidate and head of the air force in order to force him to withdraw from the presidential race.[30][31]
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Commander of the Egyptian Air Force 1996–2002 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister of Civil Aviation 2002–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Egypt 2011 | Succeeded by |
| Candidates advancing to the second round |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates losing in the first round |
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| Disqualified candidates | |||||
| Events | |||||
