Sultan Ali Al-Arada ( ar, سلطان بن علي العرادة; born 1959) is a

Yemeni Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and sh ...

politician and general who has served as one of the 8 members of the

Presidential Leadership Council The Presidential Leadership Council (PLC; ar, مجلس القيادة الرئاسي) is the executive body of Yemen's internationally-recognized government, formed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by a presidential decree on 7 April 2022, to seek ...

since 2022. The PLC is the internationally-recognized executive of Yemen. Arada concurrently serves as the governor of

Marib Governorate Marib ( ar, مَأْرِب, Maʾrib) is a governorate of Yemen. It is located 173 kilometers to the northeast of Yemen's capital, Sana'a. The population of Marib Governorate comprises 1.2% of the country's total population. The city of Marib is t ...

, having held that role since 2012.

Biography

Arada was born in 1958 in Kara village,

in what was then the

Kingdom of Yemen The Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen ( ar, المملكة المتوكلية اليمنية '), also known as the Kingdom of Yemen or simply as Yemen, or, retrospectively, as North Yemen, was a state that existed between 1918 and 1962 in the nor ...

. He is a graduate of Sanaa University. In the 1970s, Arada, a Bedouin tribal sheikh, became associated with two presidents of the

Yemen Arab Republic The Yemen Arab Republic (YAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية اليمنية '), also known simply as North Yemen or Yemen (Sanaʽa), was a country from 1962 to 1990 in the northwestern part of what is now Yemen.The United States extend ...

Ibrahim al-Hamdi Lieutenant-Colonel Ibrahim al-Hamdi (30 September 1943 – 11 October 1977) ( ar, إبراهيم الحمدي, Ibrāhīm al-Ḥamdī) was the leader of a military '' coup d'etat'' in the Yemen Arab Republic that overthrew the regime of President ...

and

Ali Abdullah Saleh Ali Abdullah Saleh al-Ahmar (, ''ʿAlī ʿAbdullāh Ṣāliḥ al-Aḥmar;'' 21 March 1947There is a dispute as to Saleh's date of birth, some saying that it was on 21 March 1942. See: However, by Saleh's own confession, he was born in 1947 al ...

, as part of their outreach towards tribal sheikhs. Saleh selected Arada to be part of a

standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

for the newly-formed General People's Congress. In 1987, Arada was appointed to the

Shura Council In Arab culture, a Majlis-ash-Shura ( ar, مجلس الشورى; Shura Council in English) is an advisory council or consultative council. In Islamic context, the Majlis-ash-Shura is one of two ways that a khalifa (Islamic leader) may be selected ...

, the upper house of the Parliament of Yemen. In 1993, Arada was elected to the

Yemeni House of Representatives The House of Representatives (''Majlis al-Nuwaab'') is the lower house of the Parliament of Yemen. It shares the legislative power with the Shura Council, the upper house. The Assembly of Representatives has 301 members, elected for a six-year ...

, following the

reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governmen ...

of the country, and he was re-elected in 1997. In 2003, Arada broke from the General People's Congress and opted not to run for a third term. After leaving parliament, Arada did not engage with national politics, instead playing a conciliatory role in tribal conflicts. However, in 2011, Arada was a protestor in the

Yemeni Revolution The Yemeni Revolution ( intifada), also known as the Yemeni Revolution of Dignity followed the initial stages of the Tunisian Revolution and occurred simultaneously with the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and other Arab Spring protests in the ...

, which saw the ousting of Saleh. Sometime after leaving parliament, Arada joined the

Yemeni Congregation for Reform The Yemeni Congregation for Reform, frequently called al-Islah (; ar, التجمع اليمني للإصلاح, at-Tajammu’u al-Yamanī lil-Iṣlāḥ), is a Yemeni Islamist party founded in 1990 by Abdullah ibn Husayn al-Ahmar, Ali Mohsen ...

, also known as al-Islah. On 6 April 2012,

Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi ( ar, عبدربه منصور هادي, translit=ʿAbd Rabbih Manṣūr Hādī Yemeni pronunciation: ; born 1 September 1945) is a Yemeni politician and former field marshal of the Yemeni Armed Forces who served as the pr ...

, the newly-elected

president of Yemen The president of the Republic of Yemen is the head of state of Yemen. Under the Constitution of Yemen, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and head of the executive branch of the Yemeni government. As of 7 April ...

, appointed Arada as the governor of Marib Governorate. In this role, Arada, who is also a

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

in the

Yemeni Army The Armed Forces of Yemen ( ar, الْقُوَّاتُ الْمُسَلَّحَةُ الْيَّمَّنِيَّة, Al-Quwwat Al-Musallahah Al-Yamaniyah) are the military forces of the Republic of Yemen. They include the Yemeni Army (including ...

, was at the forefront of the

Yemeni Civil War Yemeni Civil War may refer to several historical events which have taken place in Yemen: * Alwaziri coup, February – March 1948 *Yemeni–Adenese clan violence, 1956–60 * North Yemen Civil War, 1962–70 * Aden Emergency, 1963–67 * North Yem ...

; Marib Governorate was a major target for the opposition

Houthi The Houthi movement (; ar, ٱلْحُوثِيُّون ''al-Ḥūthīyūn'' ), officially called Ansar Allah (' ''Partisans of God'' or ''Supporters of God'') and colloquially simply Houthis, is an Islamist political and armed movement that ...

forces due to its richness in oil as well as its proximity to Houthi-controlled

Sanaa Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Go ...

. During Arada's tenure as governor,

Marib Marib ( ar, مَأْرِب, Maʾrib; Old South Arabian: 𐩣𐩧𐩨/𐩣𐩧𐩺𐩨 ''Mryb/Mrb'') is the capital city of Marib Governorate, Yemen. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of ''Sabaʾ'' ( ar, سَبَأ), which some scholars ...

saw large development at a time when the rest of Yemen was suffering from the civil war; new specially-designed homes, restaurants, and a football pitch were built. Arada also has close ties with the West, having visited

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in official capacity as governor, as well as sponsoring visas for several western journalists. On 7 April 2022, Hadi announced that he would transfer his executive power as president to an 8-member body known as the

, as part of the Yemeni peace process; Arada was announced to be one of the members of the body, and has retained his governorship of Marib while on the council.

Personal life

Several of Arada's sons are soldiers in the Yemeni army, with one son dying in battle against the Houthis in Marib Governorate. One of Arada's brothers has been named a specially designated terrorist by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

for allegedly funding

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

operations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arada, Sultan Ali Date of birth missing (living people) Living people 1958 births Al-Islah (Yemen) politicians General People's Congress (Yemen) politicians Governors of Marib Members of the House of Representatives (Yemen) Yemeni generals Yemeni military personnel of the Yemeni Civil War (2014–present) People from Marib Governorate Presidential Leadership Council 21st-century Yemeni politicians 20th-century Yemeni politicians Sanaa University alumni