Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, the internationally recognized president of Yemen who governed mostly from exile for eight years as the country descended into civil war and famine, died Thursday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was 80.
State-run Yemeni TV reported his death at his residence in the Saudi capital, without providing further details. Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Presidential Leadership Council of Yemen's internationally recognized government, paid tribute, saying Hadi believed in the Yemeni people's right to a just state, freedom and human dignity. The government declared three days of mourning with flags at half-staff.
Hadi became president in 2012 after the resignation of longtime leader Ali Abdullah Saleh during the Arab Spring uprisings. Backed by the US and Gulf states, he was a compromise candidate in a one-person election meant to guide a political transition. He attempted reforms, including unifying armed factions, but faced opposition from Houthi rebels and al-Qaida. In 2014, Houthi fighters captured Sanaa, and by 2015, Hadi resigned briefly before fleeing to Aden. A Saudi-led coalition intervened to restore his government, but his authority waned as divisions emerged, notably with the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, which took control of Aden.
Hadi spent his final years largely out of public view in Riyadh. In April 2022, he transferred power to al-Alimi under a UN-brokered ceasefire. Born September 1, 1945, in Abyan province, Hadi was a Sandhurst-trained army officer who served in Egypt and Russia. He was a senior officer during the 1986 civil war in South Yemen and later became vice president under Saleh after Yemen's reunification. He is survived by his wife, Hala, and six children.
