Explainer: Key players in Egyptian protests

       

• Intro
• President
• New VP
• New PM
• Rival
• On guard
• The Brotherhood
• Mubarak's son
• 'Future man'

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  YANNIS BEHRAKIS  /  Reuters
  

  A senior army officer salutes a crowd of cheering protesters at Tahrir square in Cairo.
  Protesters stormed Cairo streets in a bid to drive Hosni Mubarak from power, even as the longtime president set the stage for a successor by naming his intelligence chief as his first-ever vice president.
  The following are key players in the unfolding crisis.
  Sources: The Associated Press, Reuters 
  
  
  President
  

  Khaled Desouki  /  AFP - Getty Images
  

  Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
  Name: Hosni Mubarak
  Age: 82
  Role: The former air force commander has ruled Egypt for 30 years as leader of the National Democratic Party. Fierce protesters have pushed him into naming a vice president for the first time in three decades.
  Background: Mubarak was thrust into office when Islamists gunned down his predecessor Anwar Sadat at a military parade in 1981. He has long promoted peace abroad and on the domestic front he has kept a tight lid on political opposition. He has resisted any significant political change even under pressure from the United States. The U.S. has poured billions of dollars of military and other aid into Egypt since it became the first Arab state to make peace with Israel, signing a treaty in 1979.
  Controversy: Mubarak won the first multicandidate presidential election in 2005 although the outcome was never in doubt and his main rival came in a distant second. Rights groups and observers said the election was marred by irregularities.
  Personal note: There have been questions about his health after surgery in Germany last March.
  New VP
  

  Arno Burgi  /  EPA
  

  Omar Suleiman
  Name: Omar Suleiman
  Age: 74
  Role: The intelligence chief and Mubarak confidant became Egypt's first vice president in three decades on Jan. 29. The move clearly set up a succession that would hand power to Suleiman and keep control of Egypt in the hands of military men.
  Military man: He has been the director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Services since 1993, a part in which he has played a prominent public role in diplomacy, including in Egypt's relations with Israel and the United States. In 1992 he headed the General Operations Authority in the Armed Forces and then became the director of the military intelligence unit before taking over EGIS. Suleiman took part in the war in Yemen in 1962 and the 1967 and 1973 wars against Israel.
  Intel chief: Suleiman was in charge of the country's most important political security files, and was the mastermind behind the fragmentation of Islamist groups who led the uprising against the state in the 1990s.
  New PM
  

  Mohamed Abd El Ghany  /  Reuters
  

  Egypt's Civil Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq.
  Name: Ahmed Shafiq
  Age: 69
  Role: President Mubarak appointed Shafiq as prime minister on Jan. 29.
  Background: A close associate of Mubarak, Shafiq has been minister of civil aviation since 2002. As minister of civil aviation, Shafiq has won a reputation for efficiency and administrative competence. He has supervised a successful modernization program at the state airline, EgyptAir, and improvements to the country's airports.
  Former fighter pilot: Shafiq served as commander of the Egyptian air force between 1996 and 2002, a post Mubarak held before he became vice president of Egypt under former President Anwar Sadat.
  
  
  Rival
  

  John Macdougall  /  AFP - Getty Images
  

  Mohamed ElBaradei
  Name: Mohamed ElBaradei
  Age: 68
  Role: The Nobel Peace Prize winner joined demonstrators trying to oust Mubarak. ElBaradei has suggested he might run for president if democratic and constitutional change were implemented.
  Atomic watchdog: ElBaradei joined the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1984 and served as its director-general in 1997. He transformed the IAEA into a body bold enough to take a stand on political issues relating to peace and proliferation, despite critics' belief that it was not its place. In 2005, ElBaradei and the IAEA were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He retired in 2009.
  Law and diplomacy: He studied law, graduating from the University of Cairo and the New York University School of Law. He began his career in the Egyptian diplomatic service in 1964, working twice in the permanent missions of Egypt to the United Nations in New York and Geneva. He was in charge of political, legal and arms control issues. He was a special assistant to the Egyptian foreign minister and was a member of the team that negotiated the peace settlement with Israel at Camp David in 1978. He joined the United Nations two years later.
  On Iraq: ElBaradei was outspoken on the lack of evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, which angered the Bush administration.
  On guard
  

  Lefteris Pitarakis  /  AP
  

  Egyptian army soldiers in Tahrir square in Cairo.
  Name: Egyptian Armed Forces
  Role: The army remains the most powerful institution in Egypt's chaotic nation, and whatever it does next will determine the future of the Arab world's most populous country. The military appeared to be going to great lengths to calm the country without appearing opposed to  demonstrations.
  Background: Egypt's 500,000-man army has long enjoyed the respect of citizens who perceive it as the country's least corrupt and most efficient public institution, particularly compared to a police force notorious for heavy handedness and corruption. It is touted as having defeated Israel in the 1973 Mideast War, and revered for that role.
  Stabilizer: The military, for its part, sees itself as the guarantor of national stability and above the political fray, loyal to both the government and what it sees as the interests of the general population. The military has given Egypt all of its four presidents since the monarchy was toppled in 1952.
  Provider:  Although it has almost completely withdrawn from politics since 1952, the army has added to its strength by venturing into economic activity, playing a growing role in such key service industries as food production and construction. It stepped in 2008 during an acute shortage of bread, Egypt's main stable, which it provided from its own bakeries. It has since opened outlets for basic food items sold as vastly discounted prices. 
  The Brotherhood
  

  Asmaa Waguih  /  Reuters
  

  Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie
  Name: Muslim Brotherhood
  Role: The brotherhood is Egypt's largest and most organized political opposition movement. Banned in 1954 on charges of using violence, members returned to Egypt to show support in protests.
  Background: The group said it has since denounced violence and expanded its international presence. It has participated in Egyptian elections as independents despite frequent crackdowns. It surprisingly won about 20 percent of the 454 seats in 2005 parliamentary elections and since then, authorities have jailed around 5,000 of its members. The group believes in Islamic rule.
  New audience: The Muslim Brotherhood is the focus of a TV series, "Al-Gamaa," or "The Group," which centers on a 2009 court case in which members were accused of setting up a student militia.
  Mubarak's son
  

  Khaled El Fiqi  /  EPA
  

  Gamal Mubarak
  Name: Gamal Mubarak
  Age: 47
  Role: Served as secretary general of his father's National Democratic Party.
  Background: As he leaped up party ranks over the years, the younger Mubarak has avoided confirming or categorically denying he has ever intended to seek the presidency. His credentials as the guide of Egypt's economy suffered a setback when food prices soared in 2008 and street protests over low wages, unemployment and a higher cost of living grew in frequency. Still, he has touted the fruits of his liberalization reforms: creation of jobs over the past five years, economic growth and rises in salaries for state employees. Gamal, unlike his father and Egypt's other presidents, does not have a military background.
  'Future man'
  Name: Sami Enan
  Age: Early 60s
  Role: Egypt's armed forces chief of staff could be an acceptable successor to Mubarak because he is perceived as incorruptible, opposition members say.
  Background: Little is known internationally about Enan, other than he appears to have spent much of his career in air defense. A profile on Silobreaker, the news and information monitoring service, gives his date and place of birth as 1948, in Cairo, and says he was trained in both Russia and France as well at a military academy in Egypt. He held senior roles in air defense before being appointed to his current job in 2005, the website indicates.
  Leadership: Kamel El-Helbawy, a prominent overseas cleric, told Reuters that Enan, who has good ties with Washington, was a liberal who could be seen as suitable by an opposition coalition taking shape on the streets of Egypt. "He can be the future man of Egypt," Helbawy said in a telephone interview. "I think he will be acceptable ... because he has enjoyed some good reputation. He is not involved in corruption. The people do not know him (as corrupt)." Helbawy said Enan was not an Islamist but "a good, liberal man."