Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi
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Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi (‘Abdrabbuh Manṣūr Hādī;
Arabic:
عبدربه منصور هادي
Yemeni pronunciation: [ˈʕæbedˈrɑb.bu mænˈsˤuːr ˈhæːdi]; born 1 September 1945) is a Yemeni politician and former
Yemen Armed Forces field marshal. He has been the
President of Yemen since 27 February 2012, and was Vice President from 1994 to 2012.
[1]
Between 4 June and 23 September 2011, Hadi 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.
[2] On 23 November, he 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.
[3]
Mansour Hadi was chosen as a president for a two-year transitional
period on February 21, 2012, in an election in which he was the only
candidate. In January 2014 his mandate was extended for another year.
[4] However, he remained in power after the expiration of his mandate.
[5]
On 22 January 2015, Hadi resigned. Consequently, the
Houthis seized the presidential palace and placed him under virtual house arrest. A month later, he escaped to his hometown of
Aden, rescinded his resignation, and denounced the Houthi takeover as an unconstitutional
coup d'état. The Houthis named a
Revolutionary Committee to assume the powers of the presidency, as well as the
General People's Congress, Hadi's own political party.
[6] On 25 March 2015, Hadi reportedly fled Yemen in a boat as Houthi forces advanced on Aden.
[7] He arrived in
Riyadh the next day, as
Saudi Arabia began a
bombing campaign in support of his government.
[8] In September 2015, he returned to Aden as Saudi-backed government forces recaptured the city.
[9]
Early life and education
Young Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi during his service in the army of
South Yemen.
Hadi was born in 1945 in Thukain,
Abyan, a southern Yemeni governorate.
[10] He graduated from a military academy in the
Federation of South Arabia in 1964.
[11] In 1966 he graduated after receiving a military scholarship to study in Britain, but does not speak
English.
[10]
In 1970, he received another military scholarship to study tanks in
Egypt for six years. Hadi spent the following four years in the Soviet
Union studying military commanding. He occupied several military posts
in the army of
South Yemen until 1986, when he fled to
North Yemen with
Ali Nasser Mohammed, president of South Yemen, after Ali Nasser's faction of the ruling
Yemeni Socialist Party lost the
1986 civil war.
[12]
Career
Hadi played a low-profile role during the
Aden Emergency. Following the independence of South Yemen, he rose to prominence in the new military, reaching the rank of Major General.
[11]
He remained loyal to President
Ali Nasser Mohammed during the
South Yemen Civil War, and followed him into exile in neighboring North Yemen. During the
1994 civil war in Yemen, Hadi sided with the Yemeni government of
President Ali Abdullah Saleh and was appointed as Minister of Defense.
[11] In this role he led the military campaign against the
Democratic Republic of Yemen.
[13] Following the war he was promoted to Vice President on 3 October 1994, replacing
Ali Salim Al-Beidh, who had resigned and fought against the government during the civil war.
[citation needed]
President of Yemen
Mandate
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 by the parliamentary opposition. The Electoral Commission
reported that 65 percent of registered voters in Yemen voted during the
election. Hadi won with 99.80% of the vote and took the oath of office
in Yemen's parliament on 25 February 2012.
[14]
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.
[15]
Political reform
Hadi meets U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry, 29 July 2013
In March 2013 the
National Dialogue Conference
was conceived as a core part of the transition process and is intended
to bring together Yemen's diverse political and demographic groups to
address critical issues.
[16]
In January 2014, Hadi pushed delegates at the conference to break a
deadlock on key issues and bring the talks to an overdue close. When
those in attendance finally agreed on a final few points, he launched
into an impassioned speech that led to a spike in his popularity. It was
agreed that Yemen would shift to a federal model of government in the
future, a move which have been proposed and forcefully backed by Hadi.
[17]
For the Houthi's this decentralization was less attractive. Their
mountainous region is the poorest of Yemen and decentralization would
mean that it would receive less money from the central government. They
also didn't like that the new regional borders would rob them of access
to the sea.
Military
In a move to unify the
Armed Forces 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.
[18]
Security issues
From his early days at office, 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".
[19]
The Yemeni military has suffered from sharp divisions since Major
General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar defected in late March 2011 amid protests
demanding the ouster of Hadi's predecessor, Ali Abdullah Saleh. The
military 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.
[19]
In an interview in September 2012 to the
Washington Post,
Hadi warned that his country, still reeling from the popular uprising
that ousted Saleh, risks a descent into a civil war "worse than
Afghanistan" should an upcoming months-long national dialogue fail to
resolve the 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.
[20]
Houthis, on their side, complained of murder attacks on their delegates to the NDC.
[21]
Rebel takeover and civil war
Hadi and John Kerry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 7 May 2015
Hadi was forced to agree to a power-sharing deal after the
fall of Sana'a to the rebel group
Houthis
in September 2014. The Houthis refused to participate in the "unity
government", although they continued to occupy key positions and
buildings in
Sana'a and hold territory throughout
northern Yemen. Hadi was further humiliated when the
General People's Congress ousted him as its leader and rejected his cabinet choices on 8 November 2014.
[22]
Three days after Hadi's resignation (21 January 2015), the Houthis took over the presidential palace
[23] Hadi and Prime Minister
Khaled Bahah tendered their resignations to parliament which reportedly refused to accept them.
[24] Then the Yemeni cabinet was dissolved.
[25] Hadi and his former ministers remained under virtual house arrest since their resignations.
[26]
United Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon called for Hadi to be restored as president after the
Houthis installed themselves as the interim government in February 2015.
[26][27]
According to Houthi-controlled state media, Hadi reaffirmed on 8
February that his resignation was "final" and could not be withdrawn.
[28]
However, after leaving Sana'a and traveling to his hometown of
Aden
on 21 February, Hadi gave a speech in which he presented himself as
Yemen's president and said the actions taken by the Houthis since 21
September were unconstitutional and invalid.
[29][30]
On 26 March 2015 Saudi state TV
Al-Ekhbariya reported that Hadi arrived at a
Riyadh airbase and was met by
Saudi Arabia Defense Minister
Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud as Saudi Arabia and its allies launched airstrikes in Yemen against the Houthis in the
2015 military intervention in Yemen. His route from Aden to Riyadh was not immediately known.
[31]
References
Profile, bbc.co.uk; accessed 6 April 2015.
External links
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"Yemeni President Saleh signs deal on ceding power". BBC News. 23 November 2011.
Yemeni president's term extended, Shi'ite Muslim leader killed
Hadi affirms his presidential resignation final
Al-Moshki, Ali Ibrahim (25 February 2015). "PRESIDENT OR FUGITIVE? HOUTHIS REJECT HADI'S LETTER TO PARLIAMENT". Yemen Times. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
"Yemen's president flees country by sea amid rebel advance". Fox News. 25 March 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
"Saudi Arabia: Yemen's President Hadi Arrives In Saudi Capital Riyadh". The Huffington Post. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
"Yemen profile: timeline". BBC World News. 24 September 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
"Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi biography". Yemen Fox. 23 February 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
"Saleh's successor: low-profile warrior of consensus in Yemen". Al Arabiya. Sanaa. AFP. 19 February 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
""Hadi elected as Yemen new president", 25 February 2012". Yemen24news.blogspot.com. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
"Yemen profile - President: Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi". BBC News. 26 October 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
Kasinof, Laura (25 February 2012). "Yemen's New President Sworn Into Office". New York Times. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
"AFP: Yemen's Saleh formally steps down after 33 years". Google. 27 February 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
"Yemen's National Dialogue Behind Closed Doors". Atlanticcouncil.org. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
Peter Salisbury. "Yemen's quiet president". Aljazeera.com. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
[Yemeni
president orders new structure of armed forces. BBC Monitoring
International Reports], 21 December 2012; accessed 6 April 2015.
Mukhashaf, Mohammed (5 March 2012). "Yemen president vows to pursue Qaeda-linked militants". Reuters.com. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
Rothkopf, David (29 September 2012). "Yemen's president warns of a civil war 'worse than Afghanistan'". Blog.foreignpolicy.com. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
Saeed, Ali (23 January 2014). "NDC extends Hadi's term for one year on a day marked by an assassination'". www.yementimes.com. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
"Yemen's Houthis reject new power-sharing government". Reuters. 8 November 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
President Hadi's letter to Parliament, yementimes.com; accessed 7 April 2015.
"Yemen crisis: President resigns as rebels tighten hold". BBC. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
Yemen's cabinet is dissolved, cnn.com; accessed 7 April 2015.
"UN calls for Yemen President Hadi's reinstatement". Gulfnews.com. 8 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
"Yemen talks to resume as coup is condemned". Al Jazeera. 9 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
"Hadi affirms his presidential resignation final". Yemen News Agency (SABA). 9 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
"Yemen's Hadi says Houthis decisions unconstitutional". Al Jazeera. 21 February 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
"Yemen's ousted president Hadi calls for Houthis to quit capital". The Star Online. 22 February 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
