Houthi leader

Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who resigned in January as Yemen’s president amid pressure from Shia Houthi rebels, assumed office in after spending 17 years as vice-president.

Hadi was elected president after protests lasting nearly a year against former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, but he set about governing a country beset by a host of problems, including a Shia rebel movement and a growing threat from al-Qaeda.

A sole candidate in the referendum-like elections held in , the Sunni politician’s ascendency to power saw Yemen become the first Arab Spring nation where an uprising led to a negotiated settlement.

The vote was a condition of the power-transition deal signed by Saleh in after mass protests calling for him to step aside.

Under the deal, brokered by the Gulf Co-operation Council made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Saleh transfered constitutional powers to Hadi, who he had appointed as vic