Rashad al-Alimi
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Rashad Muhammad al-Alimi (Arabic: رشاد محمد العليمي, romanized: Rashād Muḥammad al-ʻUlaymī; born 15 January 1954) is a Yemeni politician currently serving as the chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council since 7 April 2022.[2]
Early life and education
[edit]Rashad al-Alimi was born on January 15, 1954,[1] in Al-Aloom, a village in the Taiz Governorate,[2] and is the son of judge Mohammed ben Ali al-Alimi. He graduated from Gamal Abdel Nasser High School in Sanaa in 1969.[3] He subsequently obtained a bachelor's degree in military science from the Kuwait Police College in 1975, and another university degree in arts from Sanaa University in 1977, then a master's degree and a doctorate in sociology from Ain Shams University in Egypt between 1984 and 1988.[4]
Career
[edit]
A member of the General People's Congress, he was Minister of the Interior from April 4th 2001 to 2008.[3][5][1] He then became Chairman of the Supreme Security Committee and Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Defense and Security Affairs in May 2008, subsequently becoming a member of the Yemeni National Dialogue Conference, then adviser to President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi in 2014.[4]
On 3 June 2011, during the Battle of Sanaa, al-Alimi was wounded along with Ali Abdullah Saleh during an attack on the Al-Nahdin Mosque in the Presidential Palace.[6] He was subsequently transferred to Saudi Arabia and to Germany for treatment, before returning to Sanaa on 13 June 2012. He left the city again as a result of the Houthi takeover in Yemen[2] and began living in Saudi Arabia in 2015.[7]
President of Yemen
[edit]Al-Alimi became Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, a body given the powers of the President of Yemen, on 7 April 2022, through a decree by President Hadi, who irreversibly transferred his powers to the council. Multiple sources in the Yemeni and Saudi governments stated that Saudi Arabia, where Hadi was living, forced him to cede power to Alimi.[8][9][10]
On 27 August 2024, al-Alimi made his first official visit to Taiz, the third largest city in Yemen, pledging to liberate the Houthi-controlled areas of the city and end the nine-year long Houthi siege affecting it. He also promised to restore or improve basic services in the city such as power supplies and announced several planned projects with funding from the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen such as a 30 megawatt power plant, a medical school and educational complex at Taiz University and improved roads along the Heijat Al-Abed route.[11]
Relationship with Houthis
[edit]During a briefing with journalists in Riyadh in January 2024, al-Alimi stated that the airstrike campaign launched earlier in the month by the United States and the United Kingdom against the Houthis was "defensive", claiming that the solution to the Red Sea crisis "is to eliminate the Houthis’ military capabilities.”[12] Al-Alimi hailed US President Donald Trump's re-designation of the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization on 23 January 2025, calling it "key to accountability and a step toward peace and stability in Yemen and the region."[13]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e "Biography". Official Website of Rashad al-Alimi (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
- ^ a b c "Who is the new President of the Presidential Council in Yemen?". Middle East 24 News English. 7 April 2022. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
- ^ a b "من هو رشاد العليمي .. رئيس مجلس القيادة الرئاسي المخول بصلاحيات الرئيس هادي (سيرة ذاتية )". ye-now.net (in Arabic). 7 April 2022. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ^ a b "رشاد العليمي.. تعرّف إلى رئيس مجلس القيادة الرئاسي في اليمن". mubasher.aljazeera.net (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ^ "April 2001". www.rulers.org. Archived from the original on 10 November 2001. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ^ "Yémen : le président Saleh blessé, son armée riposte". leparisien.fr (in French). 3 June 2011. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ^ "Saudi Arabia shakes up Yemen alliance in bid to exit quagmire". Middle East Monitor. 7 April 2022. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ^ "Yémen: le président en exil transfère le pouvoir à un nouveau conseil". Le Point (in French). 7 April 2022. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ^ Said, Summer; Kalin, Stephen (17 April 2022). "Saudi Arabia Pushed Yemen's Elected President to Step Aside, Saudi and Yemeni Officials Say". The Wall Street Journal. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
- ^ "Saudi Arabia forced Yemen's president to resign, says report". Middle East Eye. Washington, D.C. 18 April 2022. Archived from the original on 11 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
- ^ Al-Batati, Saeed (27 August 2024). "During rare visit to Taiz, Yemeni leader vows to break Houthi blockade of city". Arab News. Retrieved 23 January 2025.
- ^ "Yemen leader calls on US, Saudis to 'eliminate' threat from rebel Houthis". The Times of Israel. 27 January 2024. Retrieved 23 January 2025.
- ^ Gritten, David (23 January 2025). "Trump re-designates Houthis as Foreign Terrorist Organisation". BBC News. Retrieved 23 January 2025.
| North Yemen (1918–1990) |
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| South Yemen (1967–1990) | |||||
| Republic of Yemen (1990–) | |||||
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| International | |
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| National | |
- 1954 births
- Living people
- Sanaa University alumni
- Ain Shams University alumni
- General People's Congress (Yemen) politicians
- Presidents of Yemen
- People from Taiz Governorate
- Members of the Presidential Leadership Council
- 21st-century Yemeni politicians
- Interior ministers of Yemen
- Local administration ministers of Yemen
- Yemeni Sunni Muslims
- Critics of Shia Islam