Ibrahim al-Hamdi

Ibrahim al-Hamdi (30 September 1943 – 11 October 1977) (إبراهيم الحمدي) was a Yemeni military officer who was the President of the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) from 13 June 1974 until his assassination on 11 October 1977.

During his rule, he cemented the central government's control over the country, planned on ending tribal loyalty, and Yemen's medieval social classes by proclaiming all Yemenis as equal.

Ibrahim was born in Qattab, Ibb.

Hamdi's family is from Banu Hamdan.

In his early adulthood he was an associate for his father, who worked as a judge.

His father taught him about Islamic law while he was studying in the Aviation College to become a pilot, but did not complete his studies and continued working with his father as a judge in the court of Dhamar in the reign of Imam Ahmed Yahya Hamid al-Din where he raised much controversy and attention.

Under Al-Hamdi's administration, Yemen enjoyed the most prosperous economic boom since 1962, as he was responsible for a civil engineering endeavour that would usher in an era of unprecedented economic growth in Yemen's post-Imamate history.

More specifically, Hamdi fostered the creation of 'Local Development Associations,' which functioned as autonomous community-based institutions focused on developing local infrastructure.

Scholar Isa Blumi notes that while "Able to exclusively access the potential tax revenue under their jurisdictions, the committees created from members of the community could also solicit external funds and loans (almost exclusively drawn from local, non-banking sources) independently of the central state and bank now formally connected to the outside world."

His efforts to eradicate tribal loyalty (including in the military) and establish the rule of law in a country devastated by years of civil conflict were ground-breaking in the Arab world during the 1970s.

Al-Hamdi abolished the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (a body he believed was an obstacle to the country’s economic and social advancement) and established the Ministry of Local Administration.

He also restructured the North Yemen army and raised the salaries of military and civilian personnel.

In other words, during the 1970s the LDAs did the heavy lifting as far as the development of Yemen's infrastructure was concerned.

What is more, the locally driven LDAs protected the Yemeni countryside from an influx of foreign finance capital (disguised as development 'aid' and often tethered to massive usury rates).

Then, he became in the era of President Abdullah as-Sallal the commander of the commandos, then the responsibility for the western, eastern, and central provinces in 1972 then he was promoted to become the Deputy Prime Minister for Internal Affairs, then he was appointed to the position of the higher representative Commander of the Armed Forces, then on 13 June 1974 he was an effective member of the officers who ran the white military coup overthrowing the Judge Abdul Rahman al-Iryani in the revolutionary correction movement of 13 June 1974 and handed over all the president's and the members' of the republican council authorities to the military forces which represented in the leadership of the general and senior officers mentioned: Ahmad Ghashmi, Yahya Mutawakil, Mujahid Abu Shawareb, Ali Al-Shibh, Hammoud Pedder, Ali Alilla'a, AED Abu Meat, Ali Abu Lohoum, and added later Abdaziz Abdul Ghani and Abdullah Abdulalim.

Colonel Ibrahim al-Hamdi led the thirteenth corrective movement.

Hamdi aimed to correct the Yemeni revolutionary path, to get rid of a "legacy of decadence."

He primarily sought to calm tribal feuds and regional conflicts, which had been prevalent under previous rulers.

Thus, security was his top concern.

He also promoted financial reforms to put an end to favoritism and bribery.

He created committees to implement these reforms, saving estimated tens of millions of Riyals.

Furthermore, he initiated a large infrastructure plan, paving thousands of kilometres of dirt roads, building thousands of schools, and hundreds of clinics and health centres.

He encouraged people and many non-local investors to invest in the sections of agriculture and local manufacturing.

This period saw rising standards of living and much prosperity.

When al-Hamdi came to power in 1974, North Yemen lacked the most basic services and infrastructure.

He created a five-year development plan supervised by a number of committees, which encouraged local communities to contribute “to road construction, school building, and water networks.”

In an unprecedented move, al-Hamdi allocated 31 percent of North Yemen’s annual budget to education.

Believing that education was the cornerstone to development and progress, al-Hamdi implemented a free breakfast program for pupils in remote rural areas to increase access to basic schooling.

Moreover, Al-Hamdi made a number of executive decisions during his rule to increase the role of government and promote citizenship and equality.

During al-Hamdi’s rule, North Yemen witnessed remarkable economic growth, with the country’s GDP rising from 21.5 percent in 1974 to 56.1 percent in 1977.

Its per capita income rose by 300 percent in the same period.

Al-Hamdi was also planning to establish more democratic institutions in the country by founding what he called “popular conventions.” The purpose of these conventions was to “prepare the groundwork for eventual elections” in North Yemen, according to WikiLeaks documents.

However, the tribal forces that allegedly conspired with Saudi Arabia against al-Hamdi did not allow his plans for North Yemen to come to fruition.

On October 11, 1977, he was assassinated, along with his brother, in his vice president’s house in Sana’a.

This man had started his presidency path with arduous efforts and was assisted by a group of young faces qualified academically to build a modern government based on law, order, and institutions.

It was a difficult task but not impossible for a commander collected in his persona the power and the model, plus his culture and excellence through his civilian and military experiences, and what was more important is the honor that observed from his family when he worked as a judge (during his short experience in the judiciary while the absence of his father Judge Mohammed Saleh Al-Hamdi all provisions was ending to between the rivals) so he learned two rules that justice is the base of governance, and the base of governance is the fear of Allah.

Thus he has proved his worth as a national leader through several Workers in addition to justice, including:

The LDA system thus preserved Yemen's economic sovereignty until 1978.

During his rule, Al Hamdi built up the Yemeni defenses in Bab al Mandab and on Yemeni islands and modernized and expanded the Yemeni navy

. He reorganised the Yemeni army into four main forces: