Khaled Bahah

Khaled Bahah
2nd Vice President of Yemen
In office 13 April 2015 – 3 April 2016
President	Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi
Preceded by	Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi
Succeeded by	Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar
Prime Minister of Yemen
In office 9 November 2014 – 3 April 2016
President	Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi
Deputy	Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr Abdulmalik Al-Mekhlafi
Preceded by	Abdullah Mohsen al-Akwa (Acting)
Succeeded by	Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr
Personal details
Born	January 1965 (age 51) Ad-Dees Al-Sharqiyya, Hadhramaut Governorate, South Yemen
Political party	General People's Congress (Before 2011) Independent (2011–present)
Alma mater	Pune University
Religion	Sunni Islam

Khaled Mahfoudh Bahah (ِArabic: خالد محفوظ بحاح‎‎) is a Yemeni politician and diplomat who served as Prime Minister of Yemen between 2014 and 2016, as well as Vice President of Yemen from 2015 until he was sacked on April 3, 2016 by President of Yemen Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.^[1]

Life and career

Bahah received his BCom and MCom (1992) from Pune University in India.^[2][3]

In 2011, Bahah actively backed the revolution in Yemen beginning in March, demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh resign and avoid further bloodshed. He quit the ruling party on account of the Saleh administration's violence against its own citizens. He continued to serve as Yemeni Ambassador to Canada.^[4]

President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi named Bahah, then serving as Permanent Representative to the United Nations, as Prime Minister-designate on 13 October 2014, with the assent of Houthis who seized the capital the previous month.^[5] He took office as Prime Minister on 9 November 2014.^[6] However, on 22 January 2015, after heavy fighting around the presidential compound, President Hadi and Prime Minister Bahah submitted their resignations and the cabinet dissolved, leaving Yemen without a government.^[7]

Bahah was ordered to return to work by the Houthis after the House of Representatives was reinstated and Hadi escaped to Aden in late February 2015, but he and his former ministers reportedly refused.^[8] In March 2015, Bahah was released from house arrest and he immediately left Sana'a.^[9]

While in exile in Saudi Arabia during the civil war between his supporters and the Houthis, Hadi named Bahah as Vice President on 12 April 2015. An aide to Hadi expressed hope that Bahah's appointment would help bring about a "political solution" to the conflict.^[10] Le Monde described Bahah as "a man of consensus" and suggested he could step in as an acceptable successor to Hadi if the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen was successful in restoring the exiled government to power.^[11]

Bahah returned to Aden with several other ministers "to stay permanently" on 16 September 2015, according to a government spokesman, amid loyalist and coalition gains in the south.^[12]

References

1. "Yemeni president sacks prime minister, appoints new senior team: Al-Arabiya". Reuters. 3 April 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
2. "New Permanent Representative of Yemen Presents Credentials". United Nations. 13 August 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
3. Al-Moshki, Ali Ibrahim (14 October 2014). "New Prime Minister Appointed". The Yemen Times. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
4. "Yemen Live Blog – March 21", Al Jazeera English. 21 March 2011.
5. "Yemen president names new PM, Shi'ite Houthis welcome choice". Reuters. 13 October 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
6. "Yemeni PM Bahah's cabinet wins parliamentary approval: sources". Reuters. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
7. "Yemen crisis: President resigns as rebels tighten hold". BBC. January 22, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
8. "Yemen crisis: Houthi rebels threaten to try ministers". BBC News. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
9. "Yemen's Houthis free prime minister from house arrest". Al Jazeera. 16 March 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
10. "Yemen's exiled president appoints conciliatory figure as deputy". Reuters. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
11. "Khaled Bahah, l'espoir d'une " solution politique " au Yémen" (in French). Le Monde. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
12. "Yemeni government returns to Aden after months in exile-spokesman". Reuters. 16 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.