November 11, 2008. Copyright 2008, Graphic News. All rights reserved

President Ali Abdullah Saleh -- a lifetime in the hot seat
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, November 11, Graphic News:  Who would want to be Yemen's president? Caught between a thriving Islamic jihadist movement on one side and the demands of an angry U.S. government on the other, it is no surprise that President Ali Abdullah Saleh has on occasion expressed his wish to quit the post he has held since 1978. In Yemen, however, nothing is quite so simple.

The attack on the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a in September was yet another reminder that President Saleh still faces an uphill battle in containing the burgeoning jihadist movement in his tiny impoverished nation. For the White House, it also raised fresh questions as to whether Saleh really is an ally or is too compromised by his dealings with the militants.

During his lifetime in power Saleh has ruled a nation riven by tribal fighting and a war with Shiite rebels who refuse to submit to central power, as well as a new generation of Al-Qaeda terrorists. Critics accuse his government of corruption and of neglecting to provide basic services, but supporters say it's taken all Saleh's energy to preserve a fragile unity.

Born on March 21, 1942, Saleh was an army officer before taking over the presidency in 1978. After reunification in 1990, Yemen enjoyed a flourishing democracy and in 1999 Saleh won the first direct presidential elections with more than 90 percent of the vote. A new law extended the presidential term from five to seven years, and despite announcing in 2005 that he would not run again, in 2006 the ever popular Saleh won another term.

Known as a shrewd operator with a keen sense of humour, Saleh has promised much to both the U.S. and Yemenis who oppose its war on terror -- he has relied on jihadists to fight the rebels and he has freed terrorists wanted in the U.S. Like a man who fears a meeting of his mistress and his wife, his best hope is of somehow keeping the two apart.
/ENDS