List of Leaders of Yemen

By Geoffrey Migiro on May 9 2019 in World Facts

Posters of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former president of Yemen. Editorial credit: Dmitry Chulov /

Yemen is a west Asian state that is situated at the southern end of Arabia. It is the second-biggest independent Arab state in Arabia, which occupies an area of approximately 203,850 square miles. Yemen is bordered by the Arabian Sea, Saudi Arabia, Guardafui Channel, Oman, the Red Sea, and the Aden Gulf. Yemen is made up of over 200 islands, and it has a 1,200 mile-long coastline. Yemen is a developing nation and the poorest Middle Eastern state.

List of Yemen Presidents

Ali Abdullah Saleh

Abdullah Saleh was a politician who became the first Yemeni president after the Yemeni unification on May 22, 1990. Saleh was born in March 1947 in the Bait el-Ahmar village in Sanhan District. His father died while he was still young and after divorcing Saleh’s mother. Saleh was raised by Muhammad Saleh, his father’s brother, who married his mother. Saleh received his primary education in M’alama village before joining the North Yemeni armed forces as an infantry soldier in 1958 at age 11. Saleh took part in the 1962 Nasserist-inspired coup that played a vital role in the formation of the Yemen Arab Republic and removal of King al-Badr. North Yemeni president appointed Saleh as the military governor of Ta’izz in 1977.

After the president al-Ghashmi was assassinated, Saleh became the general staff commander’s deputy and one of the 4-man provisional presidential council. The parliament elected him as the president of North Yemen on July 17, 1978. South Yemen merged with North Yemen in 1990 after the Soviet Union weakened with Ali Saleh as the president. Saleh’s party won 122 seats in the 1993 parliamentary election. President Saleh resigned on February 25, 2012, after the Yemeni Revolution.

Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi

Mansur is the current Yemeni president and a former Field Marshal of the Armed forces of Yemen. Mansur was born in Thukain in 1945. Mansur played a role in the Aden Emergency, and after South Yemen gained its independence, he held numerous military posts before becoming the Major General. Mansur was loyal to the South Yemen president and even followed him to exile in North Yemen after the Civil War of South Yemen. President Saleh appointed Mansur as the vice president on October 3, 1994. Mansur became the president on February 27, 2012, after Saleh resigned.

Mansur agreed to a power-sharing deal the Houthis took over Sana’a. The Houthis forced Mansur to resign on January 22, 2015, after he raised the fuel subsidies. The Houthis seized his palace and placed him under-house-arrest for a month. Mansur managed to escape and denounced the takeover while annulling the resignation. The Houthis appointed a revolutionary Committee to run the government. Mansur fled to Riyadh on March 25, 2015, and returned to Yemen after the Saudi Arabia forces had recaptured Aden in September 2015.

Formation of the Republic of Yemen

Yemen was split between the British and the Ottoman Empires during the early twentieth century. South Yemen was established in 1962 right after the Zaydi Mutawakkilite kingdom was created in North Yemen. South Yemen was under the British until 1967 when it became an independent state. North and South Yemen united and created the current Republic of Yemen in 1990 after the Soviet Union weakened.

List of Leaders of Yemen

Rank﻿PresidentTime in Office
1Ali Abdullah Saleh1990-1994, 1994-2012
2Abrabbuh Mansur Hadi2011-Incumbent

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