Marshal Ali Abdullah Saleh President of the Republic of Yemen
Date: 16/07/2007

Marshal Ali Abdullah Saleh
President of the Republic of Yemen

- Born: March 21, 1942
- Age: 65
- Nationality: Yemeni
- Political Party: General People’s Congress
- Religion: Islam
- He is married and a father of several children (Ahmed is the eldest).
- He joined the armed forces in 1958.
- He joined the Military Academy in 1960
- He joined all battles before the revolution in different areas of Yemen
- In 1963 he was granted the ranked of 2^nd lieutenant
- He was one of the heroes in the 70-day war when Sana’a was under siege
- He was the commander of Khalid Bin al-Walid military camp in Taiz (1975-1978).
- He represented Yemen alone and with others in many international events and official visits to brotherly and friendly countries.
- He was appointed member of the provisional presidency council and deputy of the general staff commander after the assassination of president Ahmad al-Ghashmi on 24 June 1978.
- On 17 July 1978, he was elected president of the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) and General Commander of the Armed Forces.
- On 17 September 1979, based on a collective decision of all leaders and personnel of the Armed Forces in appreciation of his efforts to build and develop the Armed Forces and Security on modern bases, he was granted the rank of Colonel.
- He was elected the secretary-general of the General People’s Congress party on 30 August 1982.
- On 1983, he was re-elected president of the Yemen Arab Republic and Commander of the Armed Forces by the people-elected Consultative Council.
- On 17 July, he was re-elected president of the Yemen Arab Republic and the General Commander of the Armed Forces.
- On 20 May, 1990, the Shura council unanimously granted him the rank of General in appreciation of his great efforts for the reunification of the nation.
- On 22 May 1990, he raised the flag of the Republic of Yemen in the city of Aden to officially declare the re-unification of Yemen (north and south). On the same day, he was elected president of the Presidential Council of the reunified Yemen (Republic of Yemen).
- He was re-elected President of the Presidential Council on October 16, 1993, after the first parliamentary election in Yemen.
- He could challenge all attempts to re-divide the nation by the secessionist conspiracy. He led battles to defend Yemen’s Unity and safeguard democracy during the war of Summer 1994 until victory was achieved on July 7, 1994.
- He was elected president of the Republic of Yemen by the Parliament on October 1^st, 1994, after constitutional amendments approved by the Parliament.
- On December 24, 1997, he was granted the rank of Marshal by the Parliament in appreciation of his contribution to build the modern state.
- He was first directly elected president of the Republic of Yemen on 23 September, 1999, winning 96.2% of the vote, in an internationally observed election.
- On February 20, 2001, a referendum was held and passed, extending presidential terms from five to seven years, parliamentary terms from four to six years, and creating a 111-member Shura council, appointed by the president.
- In the 2006 presidential election, held on September 20, Saleh won with 77.2% of the vote. His main rival, Faisal bin Shamlan, received only 21.8%. According to the US State Department, “Yemen and President Saleh, who did win re-election in those elections, should be congratulated on the fact that they ran some good elections that met international criteria for free and fair elections.” Saleh was sworn in for another term on September 27.

Strategic development achievements took place under his leadership:

- The rebuilding of Marib great dam,
- The extraction of oil and gas,
- The establishment of the free-zone in Aden,
- He is the founder of modern state of Yemen based on democratic basis, political pluralism and freedom of the press, respect for Human Rights and the peaceful transfer of power.