Egyptians continue to debate the reasons for the reassignment of the now former head of the General Intelligence Service, Major General Abbas Kamel. Kamel was President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s right-hand man, the keeper of his secrets, and his companion in the military coup against the late President Mohamed Morsi on 3 July, 2013.
For more than 10 years, sensitive files were assigned to the man whose nickname was the “President’s Shadow”. Suddenly, though, Al-Sisi got rid of him with a decision that shocked everyone. His new position is as an advisor and special envoy to the president, and general coordinator of the security services, which has raised confusion about whether this was a demotion or a promotion.
The nature of the new assignment and what it entails are not yet clear. Kamel has been head of the General Intelligence Service since 2018. He was the director of Al-Sisi’s office when he was head of the Military Intelligence Service before being minister of defence and then president.
Kamel’s reassignment is the final act in the Egyptian president’s series of moves disposing of generals who supported him in the 2013 coup; none are still in their respective positions. Al-Sisi has ousted Ministers of Defence Sedki Sobhi and Mohamed Zaki; Chiefs of Staff Mahmoud Hegazy, Mohamed Farid and Osama Askar; and the heads of General Intelligence Mohamed El-Tohamy and Khaled Fawzy, as well as others.
In mid-September, Al-Sisi dismissed eleven presidential advisors in another shocking move.
These included two former interior ministers, Major General Ahmed Gamal El-Din and Major General Magdy Abdel Ghaffar, and nine former senior leaders of the armed forces, including the former head of the Suez Canal Authority, Lieutenant General Mohab Mamish, and the former heads of the Administrative Control Authority, Major General Mohamed Omar Heiba and Major General Mohamed Erfan.
It’s not just military personnel who have been shown the door; Al-Sisi has also overthrown liberal and leftist individuals and leaders of parties and civil forces who supported his rise to power. They have either been imprisoned, banned from travelling or otherwise marginalised. These people helped Al-Sisi in the mobilisation of protesters on 30 June, 2013 and the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule, all the way through to the presidential election in June 2014.
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The trusted circle around the Egyptian president, who has pushed his sons Mahmoud, Hassan and Mustafa to senior positions in influential agencies, is very small. Mahmoud Al-Sisi is Deputy Director of the General Intelligence Service, and the president’s second son Hassan works in the same service, while Mustafa works in the Administrative Control Authority, which is a civilian intelligence service, in what appears to be an attempt by Al-Sisi to secure his own position for life, with eyes and ears within Egypt’s sovereign agencies of state.
Al-Sisi feels threatened by the increasing influence of certain intelligence and security figures, and the long-term presence of security officials in their positions. He fears that they will turn into centres of power, a fear which stems from his nature as a man from an intelligence background who is in close contact with generals who are ambitious to be president in a country ruled by the military since July 1952.
With this recent decision, the Egyptian president may want to empty his “secrets cabinet”, another nickname for Kamel, and cut his ties to official circles. In the meantime, Al-Sisi may be working to create an alternative leadership that is more loyal, and closer to his son Mahmoud, who is seen as the potential heir to the presidency.
The General Intelligence Service is the most powerful apparatus in Egypt.
It has great control over political, security and media affairs, and enjoys wide influence in many areas. It has huge investments and a large economic empire that is not subject to any parliamentary or judicial oversight or accountability, and its budget is not subject to any audits.
Many reasons are thought to be behind the reassignment of Kamel. Some believe that it was triggered by the mention of his name in the bribery scandal involving former US Senator Bob Menendez, who was convicted by an American court in July of bribery, corruption and working for the Egyptian government.
Former Egyptian army officer Captain Sherif Osman, who resides in the United States, claimed in a video clip on X that he played a prominent role in the ousting of Kamel by exposing his involvement in corruption and money laundering cases, along with Egyptian businessman Wael Hanna and Senator Menendez, saying that he exposed him and led to the termination of the service of a prominent official.
Other observers insist on linking the visit to Cairo of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman a few days ago to the timing of Kamel’s reassignment, which came one day after the visit, making it look like the Gulf ally may have been behind it. Perhaps it was due to an unknown disagreement, or anger over an insult Kamel may have made towards the Kingdom, similar to the hidden tension between Cairo and Abu Dhabi regarding instructions by the intelligence service to the Egyptian media to ignore the visit of UAE President Mohammed Bin Zayed to El Alamein last August. The UAE intelligence services learned about the instruction through media officials loyal to Abu Dhabi, which put Cairo in a very embarrassing situation.
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One Egyptian political commentator, who requested anonymity, believes that there’s another possible reason behind the decision, one that may have angered Israel and the United States. Earlier this month, the Egyptian intelligence service sponsored a meeting between Hamas and Fatah to discuss reconciliation and form a temporary committee to administer Gaza the day after the war. Such a move contradicts the Israeli-American plans to exclude Hamas from political life in the Gaza Strip.
The upcoming days may reveal a completely different scenario from what has been speculated about the end of Kamel’s role. This would happen if the powers of the new position he assumed as General Coordinator of the Security Services (General Intelligence, the Military Intelligence, National Security, Ministry of Interior, Administrative Control) are activated. He assumed a newly created security position that may in fact be a promotion for him, whereby his successor in the intelligence service, Major General Hassan Mahmoud Rashad, would work under his supervision.
Political researcher Mohamed Hussein told me that there is a dispute between sovereign agencies in Egypt, concerning internal and external files. It may not amount to a conflict, but nonetheless has forced Al-Sisi to make some rearrangements, restructure his security agencies, and coordinate between them, in a way that serves his regime, and paves the way for his son Mahmoud to succeed him. Hussein added that the best person to carry out this task will be Abbas Kamel, who is likely to play an influential role, albeit from behind the scenes.
An Egyptian journalist and parliamentarian close to the security services, Mustafa Bakri, expressed as much on X, saying: “Kamel was appointed as an advisor to the president and assigned a high-level position, through which he coordinates between all security services. Such a position requires seasoned experience and prestigious leadership, with a strategic understanding of the challenges facing the country at home and abroad.”
Whether it was a demotion or a promotion remains to be seen.
Given the new role assigned to Kamel, he may turn into the foreign minister who handles sensitive files behind the scenes with direct delegation from the president, especially since new Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aati does not enjoy any influence in ruling circles, or any significant trust from the president.
In any case, whichever one of the possible scenarios is correct, the president’s son Mahmoud Al-Sisi will remain the biggest beneficiary of removing Kamel from his path to the top role. This will be the case whether the decision was meant to relieve the second man in the country and holder of the keys to the Egyptian regime’s secrets of his duties, or to promote him to a higher position to coordinate between the security and influential groups, and tighten his grip on them. Either way, ultimately, the future of Al-Sisi’s son looks secure.
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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.