Ali Abdullah Salih

Ali Abdullah Saleh as President of North Yemen (1988)

Ali Abdullah Salih visiting the Moscow Kremlin (2004)

Ali Abdullah Salih ( Arabic علي عبد الله صالح, DMG ʿAlī ʿAbdullāh Ṣāliḥ , mostly written Saleh ; * March  21, 1942 in Bait al-Ahmar ; † December 4, 2017 in Sanaa ) was a Yemeni politician . From July 18, 1978 he was President of the Yemeni Arab Republic (Northern Yemen) and from 1990 to 2012 President of the unified Yemen, the Yemeni Republic . He was also chairman of the dominant ruling party, the General People's Congress .

Career

As a young man, Ali Abdullah Salih joined the army and took part in the civil war in what was then the Kingdom of Yemen from 1962 to 1968 on the side of the Republicans against the royalists. In 1974 he was involved in the coup against President al-Iryani and in 1978 became President of the Yemeni Arab Republic .

President of the United Yemen

After several failed attempts, unification with the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) was achieved on May 22, 1990 . However, for a long time no real unification of administration could be achieved. In February 1994 civil war broke out with the south when old southern troops revolted against the prevailing influence of the conservative north in the Aden area . In July 1994, however, the uprising was suppressed militarily.

In 2001 the president's term of office was extended from five to seven years. Salih won the presidential election of September 23, 2006 with 77.2% of the votes cast. The main opposition candidate, Faisal bin Schamlan , only achieved 21.8%. Since Article 162 of the Yemeni constitution limits the number of terms of office to two, Salih could not have run for president again in 2013.

Loss of power in 2011

→ Main article : Protests in Yemen 2011/2012

On January 1, 2011, Salih presented constitutional amendments, the main content of which was the lifting of the limitation on terms of office. To this end, the term of office should be reduced to five years. The planned constitutional changes sparked protests by the opposition. At the end of January 2011, several thousand people demonstrated in the capital Sanaa and asked Salih to follow the example of Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, who was ousted earlier this month , and to surrender power. As a result, Salih announced in February 2011 that he would no longer run for another term in 2013. A month later he announced that early elections would take place in 2011 .

On June 3, 2011, Salih was injured in a rocket attack on the Yemeni presidential palace, for which the hostile Hashid tribe is blamed by Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar . Like his head of government Ali Mohammed Mujavwar, who was injured in the attack, Salih was transferred to Saudi Arabia for treatment . At the beginning of August 2011 Salih was able to leave the hospital again, but initially stayed in Saudi Arabia. According to the constitution, Salih was represented by Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi during his absence .

At the end of August 2011, the Yemeni government announced elections for the current year. In addition, Salih instructed his deputy to start talks with the opposition about power-sharing. Regardless, the opposition continued to protest. On September 23, 2011, Salih surprisingly returned to Yemen. At the beginning of October 2011 he repeated his resignation. In the same month, the United Nations Security Council unanimously called Salih for an orderly transfer of power and condemned the ongoing violence and human rights abuses in Yemen. The resolution granted him immunity from prosecution if, following a plan by the Gulf Cooperation Council, he would sign for an orderly transfer of power within 30 days. On November 23, 2011 Salih then signed an agreement based on the plan of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which provides for the transfer of power to his previous deputy Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi and new elections within 90 days. In return, Salih and his relatives were assured immunity and free travel to the United States of America .

Transfer of power

On January 22, 2012, Salih passed power to his deputy Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi and flew to Oman , from where he flew to the United States for medical treatment. Until the presidential election on February 21, 2012 , Salih officially held the title of Honorary President . On February 27, Salih appeared on state television together with Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi. The opposition reacted angrily, saying there was no democratic change in Yemen.

According to the residents, on December 4, 2017, Salih's house in Sanaa was attacked by fighters of the Houthi movement after he had terminated his previous alliance with them. Some media initially claimed that he was killed on the way to Ma'rib, which his party denied. Houthis posted a video allegedly depicting Salih's body. His death was confirmed by a senior adviser to Salih, according to CNN.

See also

• Houthi conflict
• Military intervention in Yemen since 2015

literature

• Ali Abdallah Saleh , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 18/2012 from May 1, 2012, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of the article freely available)

Web links

Commons : Ali Abdullah Salih  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Beate Seel: A fan of Saddam. In: The daily newspaper . January 31, 2011, accessed September 23, 2011 . 
2. ↑ Yemen's ex-President Saleh killed . Spiegel Online, December 4, 2017
3. ^ Frankfurter Rundschau : Democracy spark jumps over to Yemen , January 27, 2011.
4. ↑ No resetting of the clock. In: ORF . February 2, 2011, accessed September 23, 2011 . 
5. ↑ Focus : Yemen: Salih allows elections this year , March 23, 2011.
6. ↑ AFP: Four injured politicians from Yemen brought to Saudi Arabia ( memento from January 24, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) June 4, 2011
7. ^ Spiegel Online : Salih leaves clinic in Riyadh , August 7, 2011.
8. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung : Thousands celebrate the President's departure , June 5, 2011.
9. ^ Spiegel Online: President Salih apparently ready to change power , September 12, 2011.
10. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung: Return to scorched ground , September 23, 2011.
11. ^ DiePresse.com: UN Security Council calls for a change of power in Yemen , October 22, 2011.
12. ^ DiePresse.com: Yemen: President Saleh gives up power , November 23, 2011
13. ^ Yemen's Saleh agrees to transfer power. Al Jazeera English, November 23, 2011, accessed December 5, 2011 . 
14. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung: Salih arrived in USA ( memento of April 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), January 30, 2012
15. ^ Spiegel Online: President Salih leaves Yemen , January 22, 2012
16. ^ Yemen unrest: Ex-President Salih provokes opposition on www.focus.de , February 27, 2012; Retrieved December 5, 2017
17. ↑ Yemen's ex-President Saleh killed. Spiegel Online, December 4, 2017, accessed January 9, 2018 . 
18. ↑ Gehlen, Martin: Is there a threat of a three-front war? Zeit Online, December 3, 2017, accessed January 9, 2018 . 
19. ^ RT International December 4, 2017: Yemeni ex-President Saleh killed by Houthis following his realignment with Saudis
20. ↑ Al Jazeera December 4, 2017: Houthis reportedly gain control of most of Sanaa
21. ↑ CNN December 4, 2017: Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh killed in Sanaa
22. ↑ Reuters December 4, 2017: Ex-president Saleh dead after switching sides in Yemen's civil war