Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi

Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi عبد ربه منصور هادي
2nd President of Yemen
Incumbent
Assumed office 23 November 2011 Acting: 23 November 2011 – 27 February 2012
Prime Minister	Mohammed Basindawa
Preceded by	Ali Abdullah Saleh
In office 4 June 2011 – 23 September 2011 Acting
Prime Minister	Ali Muhammad Mujawar
Preceded by	Ali Abdullah Saleh
2nd Vice President of Yemen
In office 3 October 1994 – 27 February 2012
President	Ali Abdullah Saleh
Preceded by	Ali Salim Al-Beidh
Succeeded by	Ahmed Hassan Abu Khanir
Minister of Defence
In office 29 May 1994 – 3 October 1994
Prime Minister	Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas
Preceded by	Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas
Personal details
Born	(1945-09-01) 1 September 1945 Abyan, Aden Protectorate (now Yemen)
Political party	General People's Congress
Religion	Islam
Military service
Rank	Major General

Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi (Arabic: عبد ربه منصور هادي‎ Arabic pronunciation: [ʕæbd 'rɑb:ʊh mɑn'sˤu:r 'hæ:di:]; born 1 September 1945) is a Yemeni major general and politician who has been the President of Yemen since 27 February 2012. He was previously the Vice President from 1994 to 2012. Between 4 June and 23 September 2011, he was the acting President of Yemen while Ali Abdullah Saleh was undergoing medical treatment in Saudi Arabia following an attack on the presidential palace during the 2011 Yemeni uprising. Then, on 23 November, Hadi became Acting President again, after Saleh moved into a non-active role pending the presidential election "in return for immunity from prosecution." Hadi was "expected to form a national unity government and also call for early presidential elections within 90 days" while Saleh continued to serve as President in name only.

Early life and education

Hadi was born in 1945 in Thukain village in Abyan, a southern Yemeni governorate. He graduated in 1966 after receiving a military scholarship to study in Britain. Then, in 1970, he received another military scholarship to study tanks in Egypt for six years. Hadi spent the following four years in Soviet Union studying military commanding. He occupied several military posts in the southern Yemen army until 1986, when he fled to Sana’a with Ali Nasser Mohammed, president of South Yemen, after Ali Nasser's faction of the ruling Yemeni Socialist Party lost the 1986 civil war.

Career

Hadi was a career military officer with the rank of major general. He became Vice President of Yemen after Ali Salim Al-Beidh resigned and lost the 1994 civil war. Hadi was appointed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh as Vice President on 3 October 1994. Before his appointment as Vice President, he served briefly as the minister of defense.

President of Yemen

Mandate

Main article: Yemeni presidential election, 2012

Hadi was the sole candidate in the presidential election that was held on 21 February 2012. His candidacy was backed by the ruling party as well as the parliamentary opposition. The Election Commission reported that 65 percent of registered voters in Yemen voted during the election. Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi took the oath of office in Yemen's parliament on 25 February 2012. He was formally inaugurated as the president of Yemen on 27 February 2012, when Saleh resigned from the presidency and formally ceded power to Hadi.

Military

In a move to unify the Military of Yemen which suffered from split since the Yemeni Revolution, Hadi began reforming the Military. He issued Presidential decree №104 of December 2012 reorganizing the Military into 5 main branches: Air Force, Army (Ground Force), Navy and Coastal Defence, Border Troops and Strategic Reserve Forces, which includes the Special Operation Command, the Missile Defence Command and the Presidential Protective Forces. The Strategic Reserve Forces replaces the Republican Guard.

Security issues

See also: 2012 Sana'a bombing

From his early days at office, President Hadi advocated fighting Al-Qaida as an important goal. In a meeting with British Foreign Secretary, William Hague in his first days at office Hadi said "We intend to confront terrorism with full force and whatever the matter we will pursue it to the very last hiding place".

Another security issue he is busy with is the Yemeni military which suffers from a sharp division, since Major General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar defected in late March 2011 in the midst of protests demanding Saleh's ouster. The military services protests extended to the Republican Guard – based in the south of Sana'a – when dozens from the Fourth Brigade closed down southern entrances to the capital city and demanded the firing of the brigade's commander, Mohammad Al-Arar, and his general staff.

In an interview in September 2012 to the Washington Post, Hadi warned that his country, still reeling from the popular uprising that ousted his predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh, risks a descent into a civil war "worse than Afghanistan" should an upcoming months-long national dialogue fail to resolve the Persian Gulf state's deep political and societal rifts. He also said that Yemen was facing "three undeclared wars" conducted by al Qaeda, pirates in the Gulf of Aden, and Houthi rebels in the north, and that Iran was supporting these adversaries indirectly without giving further details.

References

Political offices
Preceded by Ali Salim al-Beidh	Vice President of Yemen 1994–2012	Succeeded by TBD
Preceded by Ali Abdullah Saleh	President of Yemen Acting 2011	Succeeded by Ali Abdullah Saleh
	President of Yemen Acting: 2011–2012 2011–present	Incumbent