biography
| name: |
Saleh, Ali Abdullah
|
pronunciation:
[sale]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1942– )
|
| biography:
| North Yemeni soldier and president (1978–90), and president of the Republic of Yemen (1990– ). A colonel in the army of the Yemen Arab Republic, he took part in the 1974 coup when Colonel Ibrahim al-Hamadi seized power, with rumours that the monarchy was to be restored. Hamadi was assassinated in 1977 and Colonel Hussein al-Ghashmi took over, only to be killed by a South Yemen terrorist bomb in 1978. Against this background of violence Saleh became president. Under his leadership, the war with South Yemen was ended, and the two countries agreed to eventual re-union. |
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