Title: President of South Africa

Date of birth: June 18 1942

Education: University of London and University of Sussex

Background information: Mbeki was elected African National Congress (ANC) President in 1997, and was subsequently elected President of South Africa on the 14th of June 1999. He succeeded Nelson Mandela, and stumbled in 2000 both as a politician and a diplomat. First he perplexed allies by questioning the link between HIV and Aids, a stance that undermined efforts to combat the epidemic in South Africa. Then he was condemned for his apparently indecisive response to the political crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe. Things not getting better - in April 2001 there was a police investigation into allegations of a plot to overthrow Mbeki as South Africa's president. The claim that three leading figures in the ruling African National Congress might be involved in a conspiracy was made by Steve Tshwete, minister of safety and security, rather than directly by the president. But the suggestion that Mbeki's life could be at risk - apparently based on suspicion rather than hard evidence - has shaken confidence among both South Africans and the country's international partners.