Political Leaders & Revolutionaries Codexery

Ali Abdullah Saleh

First president of unified Yemen, ousted in 2012 after the Arab Spring.

Last updated

Ali Abdullah Saleh

Carlos Latuff · Public domain

He was born on 21 March 1947 to a poor Zaydi family in Beit al-Ahmar village from the Sanhan clan.[1] Saleh was killed by a Houthi sniper on 4 December 2017 during a battle in Sanaa.[2] Born on 21 March 1947, Ali Abdullah Saleh was a military officer and politician who became the inaugural president of the Republic of Yemen after unification in 1990 and remained in that role until he resigned in 2012.[3]

Ali Abdullah 1990 (cropped)
Ali Abdullah 1990 (cropped). Image: Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Key facts and history

Saleh joined the Royal Armed Forces in 1958 as an infantry soldier and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1963.[4] After al-Ghashmi's assassination, Saleh was elected president of the Yemen Arab Republic on 17 July 1978.[5] In the 1999 presidential election, Saleh won 96.2% of the vote as Yemen's first directly elected president.[6] He won the 2006 presidential election with 77.2% of the vote and was sworn in on 27 September 2006.[7][8]

Ali Abdullah Saleh, president of the Yemen Arab Republic
Ali Abdullah Saleh, president of the Yemen Arab Republic. Image: Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

He formally ceded power to Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi on 25 February 2012.[9] Saleh openly allied with the Houthis in May 2015 during the Yemeni civil war.[10] During 2011, after large-scale protests erupted nationwide, Saleh consented to leave office under a transition arrangement that granted him legal protection from prosecution.[11]

Ahmed Ali Abdallah Saleh Face
Ahmed Ali Abdallah Saleh Face. Image: Unknown author Unknown author retouched by Sacamol · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

What the research sources say

The APS Review Downstream Trends notes that Saleh's cousin Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar is from the Sanhan clan, which is often confused with the leading family of the Hashid tribe.[12][13] A CNN report confirms that Saleh was killed by Houthi rebels as he tried to flee Sanaa for his native town of Sanhan.[14] Al Jazeera's Faisal Edroos states that Saleh's decision to sideline the Houthis was planned in Abu Dhabi in consultation with Saudi Arabia.[15] The same Al Jazeera report notes that Saleh's system of patronage enabled the Houthis to seize control of Sanaa in September 2014.[15]

Ali Abdullah 1990 (cropped) (cropped)
Ali Abdullah 1990 (cropped) (cropped). Image: Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

According to the same source, Saleh achieved the rank of major general in 1980 and on 30 August 1982 was chosen as secretary-general of the General People's Congress.[12][16]

Ali Abdullah Saleh-2
Ali Abdullah Saleh-2. Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Ali Abdullah Saleh, the LIAR
Ali Abdullah Saleh, the LIAR. Image: Carlos Latuff · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Ali Abdullah Saleh" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Security Council 2140 Sanctions Committee Amends Three Entries on Its List, Updates Narrative Summary", www.un.org; "Hadha Ma Euthir Ealayh Mae Eali Eabd Allah Salih", Alhurra, 4 December 2017; "Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's survivor ended by his own double-dealing", Middle East Eye; "الرئيس اليمني علي عبد الله صالح", Al Jazeera, 23 June 2006; "YEMEN – Ali Abdullah Saleh Al-Ahmar", APS Review Downstream Trends, 26 June 2006; "علي عبدالله صالح.. في صور", العربية, 4 December 2017 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Ali Abdullah Saleh" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ahmed, "Deposed strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh killed after switching sides in Yemen's war", Los Angeles Times, 5 December 2017; "Yemen's ousted president 'killed by rebels'", The Independent; Browning, "The last hours of Yemen's Saleh", Reuters, 8 December 2017; "Analysis: Yemen's ex-president Saleh's killing was 'revenge'", Al Jazeera; Hakim Almasmari, Tamara Qiblawi and Hilary Clarke, "Yemen's former President Saleh killed in Sanaa", CNN (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Ali Abdullah Saleh" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Riedel, "Who are the Houthis, and why are we at war with them?", Brookings, 18 December 2017; "AFP: Yemen's Saleh formally steps down after 33 years"; Aziz, "Yemen Conundrum", CISS Insight Journal, 28 July 2015, p. P65–78 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Ali Abdullah Saleh" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "الرئيس اليمني علي عبد الله صالح", Al Jazeera, 23 June 2006; "President Ali Abdullah Saleh Web Site", Presidentsaleh.gov.ye; "President Ali Abdullah Saleh Web Site", Presidentsaleh.gov.ye (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Ali Abdullah Saleh" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "YEMEN – Ali Abdullah Saleh Al-Ahmar", APS Review Downstream Trends, 26 June 2006; "President Ali Abdullah Saleh Web Site", Presidentsaleh.gov.ye; "President Ali Abdullah Saleh Web Site", Presidentsaleh.gov.ye (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Ali Abdullah Saleh" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I", Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 309–310 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Ali Abdullah Saleh" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "In eleventh-hour reversal, President Saleh announces candidacy", 25 June 2006 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Ali Abdullah Saleh" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "President Ali Abdullah Saleh Web Site", Presidentsaleh.gov.ye; "Saleh re-elected president of Yemen", Al Jazeera, 23 September 2006; "Yemeni president takes constitutional oath for his new term", 27 September 2006 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Ali Abdullah Saleh" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Laura Kasinof, "Yemen Leader Leaves for Medical Care in New York", The New York Times, 22 January 2012; "Official: Yemen president in US for treatment", The Wall Street Journal, 28 January 2012; "Yemen's president Ali Abdullah Saleh cedes power", BBC News, 27 February 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Ali Abdullah Saleh" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Yemen: Ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh killed", Al Jazeera (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Ali Abdullah Saleh" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Birnbaum, "Yemen's President Saleh agrees to step down in return for immunity", The Washington Post, 23 April 2011; "Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh defiant over exit", BBC News, 24 April 2011; "Yemeni President Saleh signs deal on ceding power", BBC News, 23 November 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. "YEMEN – Ali Abdullah Saleh Al-Ahmar", APS Review Downstream Trends, 26 June 2006. facts only, no text reused. web.archive.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Ali Abdullah Saleh" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "YEMEN – Ali Abdullah Saleh Al-Ahmar", APS Review Downstream Trends, 26 June 2006 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  14. "Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh killed trying to flee Sanaa", CNN, 4 December 2017. facts only, no text reused. edition.cnn.com
  15. Faisal Edroos, "How did Yemen's Houthi-Saleh alliance collapse?", Al Jazeera, 4 December 2017. facts only, no text reused. aljazeera.com
  16. Wikipedia, "Ali Abdullah Saleh" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "YEMEN – Ali Abdullah Saleh Al-Ahmar", APS Review Downstream Trends, 26 June 2006; "President Ali Abdullah Saleh Web Site", Presidentsaleh.gov.ye (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Ali Abdullah Saleh (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

Soviet UnionArab SpringShia IslamThe New York TimesAyman al-ZawahiriZine El Abidine Ben AliReferendumGulf Cooperation Council

More in Political Leaders & Revolutionaries

Alexander DubčekAntonio López de Santa AnnaAntónio de Oliveira SalazarAtal Bihari VajpayeeAugusto PinochetAung SanBal Gangadhar TilakBenito JuárezBenito MussoliniCorazon AquinoDavid Lloyd GeorgeDesmond Tutu

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →