(1930-) Yemeni politician and soldier, president from 1990. He became president of North Yemen on the assassination of its president (allegedly by South Yemen extremists) 1978, and was reelected to the post 1983 and 1988. In 1990 he was elected president of a reunified Yemen, but within three years differences between north and south had resurfaced and civil war re-erupted 1994. Saleh's army inflicted a crushing defeat on the southern forces of Vice President al-Baidh, who fled into exile, and a new ruling coalition was formed.