Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets Tuesday in scenes never before seen in Egypt's modern history, roaring in unison for President Hosni Mubarak and his new government to quit.
Monday, his newly appointed vice-president, Omar Suleiman, offered a dialogue with all political forces. But the protesters have already said they won't accept Suleiman, even for a transitional period.
Here are some facts about Suleiman:
LIFE DETAILS:
* He was born on July 2, 1936 in Qena, in southern Egypt. He enrolled in Egypt's premier Military Academy in 1954 and received additional military training in the Soviet Union at Moscow's Frunze Military Academy.
* Suleiman took part in the war in Yemen in 1962 and the 1967 and 1973 wars against Israel and gained recognition as a distinguished military strategist.
* He also studied political science at Cairo University and Ain Shams University. In 1992 he headed the General Operations Authority in the Armed Forces and then became the director of military intelligence before taking over the Egyptian General Intelligence Service (EGIS).
* Long associated with Mubarak, he is credited with having saved the president's life in a 1995 assassination attempt in Ethiopia by suggesting he ride in an armored car.
INTELLIGENCE CHIEF:
* He has been the director of EGIS since 1993, a role in which he has played a prominent public role in diplomacy.
-- Beginning in 2000 with the outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifada against Israeli occupation, Suleiman engaged in high-level and high-profile diplomacy, acting as a mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and as Egypt's interlocutor with different Palestinian factions, especially Fatah and Hamas. Suleiman thus built a strong relationship with U.S. government and intelligence officials.
* Suleiman was also 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.
VICE PRESIDENT:
* Mubarak, who has not had a vice-president since he took office in 1981, appointed Suleiman, 74, to the post on January 29.
* Suleiman announced he had a mandate to start a dialogue with all political forces on constitutional and legislative reforms.
Sources: Reuters/Carnegie Endowment.