PROFILE: Yemeni general set to become transitional president
By Nehal El-Sherif, dpa
Cairo (dpa) - Abd Rabu Mansur Hadi acted as Yemen's vice president for more than 17 years but rarely appeared in public or spoke to the media.
Hadi was not even seen as a major player in the Yemeni political scene.
That changed when outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh was injured in a bombing on his presidential complex in June as part of the massive civil unrest in the impoverished country on the Arabian Peninsula.
Saleh left for Saudi Arabia in June for medical treatment, and Hadi was designated acting president.
After Saleh signed a UN-sponsored deal aimed at ending the unrest, Hadi was chosen unanimously in January by parliament to be the sole contender for the early presidential election.
Violence has gripped Yemen since January 2011 when thousands took to the streets, inspired by the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, demanding the ouster of Saleh after 33 years in power.
Under the Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered deal, Hadi would serve a two-year term as president if elected. Saleh only signed the deal in November after months of international pressure in return for immunity against prosecution.
Hadi himself was born in the southern province of Abyan on May 1, 1945. He joined the army of South Yemen in 1970 and became a major general in the early 1990s. During his career, he travelled to Britain, Russia and Egypt to study military tactics.
He held many senior posts within the southern army before the country's unification in May 1990. He later served as a defence minister before Saleh appointed him as his deputy in 1994 - a move that was seen as an attempt by Saleh to show Yemenis that there is a balance in power with a deputy from the southern part of the country.
"By running for office, ... I hold out my hand to anyone who wants to remove the obstacles facing the country and to all Yemenis no matter what their belief, tribe or party," Hadi said in a recent televised speech.
The biggest challenge facing Hadi would be to restore security in the country, especially as militants believed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda have expanded their influence in the country over the past 12 months. He also faces demands from protesters and opposition to purge the country's security and military institutions of Saleh's relatives.
In addition to those formidable challenges, Hadi also faces opposition from Shiite rebels known as the Houthis in northern Yemen as well as the Southern Movement, which calls for the separation of southern provinces from the republic. He must deal with economic challenges as the United Nations said last year that the country is heading towards a "humanitarian disaster" amid increasing food insecurity.
In his speech, Hadi asked for urgent foreign aid to help revive the country's shattered economy and called on the Group of 20 countries to hold a conference to help the country overcome its current economic crisis.
Nobel laureate and prominent activist Tawakkol Karman called on the country's protesters to "accept Hadi as the transitional president and [Prime Minister Mohamed Salem] Basindwa as a transitional prime minister."
"Most of what he said is promising and goes with the demands of the revolution, but we learned from the revolution not to judge leaders by what they say, but by what they do," she said.
Hadi promised to launch a national dialogue once he takes office.
The transitional period was expected to culminate in legislative and presidential elections within two years.
