Muhammad Hosni Mubarak

Muhammad Hosni Mubarak , 1928-, president of Egypt (1981-). air force commander (1972-75) and vice president (1975-81), he became president after Anwar al- Sadat was assassinated on Oct. 6, 1981. Mubarak pledged to continue Sadat's policies, particularly the Camp David accords with Israel. He has, however, criticized many Israeli policies, and relations between the two nations were cooler in the late 1980s and much of the 1990s. Mubarak has sought to control Egypt's excessive population growth, combat economic problems, and contain trends toward fundamentalist Islam, but his authoritarian rule also has suppressed legitimate dissent and tolerated corruption. He was reelected in 1987, 1993, 1999, and 2005, the last time in a contested election marred by some irregularities and low turnout.

Mubarak, (Muhammad) Hosni (Said) (1928– ) Egyptian statesman, President since 1981. Appointed head of the Egyptian air force in 1972, Mubarak became Vice-President in 1975 and succeeded President Sadat following the latter's assassination. Although he did much to establish closer links between Egypt and other Arab nations, including distancing himself from Israel when it invaded Lebanon in 1982, he risked division by aligning Egypt against Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War of 1991. After the resurgence of militant Islamic fundamentalism in Egypt in 1992, Mubarak's National Democratic Party government adopted extremely harsh measures to suppress activists.