Fares Mohammed Manaa
Minister of State
Disputed
Assumed office
28 November 2016
PresidentSaleh Ali al-Sammad
Prime MinisterAbdel-Aziz bin Habtour
Governor of Saada*
In office
27 March 2011 – 24 December 2014
Preceded byTaha Hajer
Succeeded byMohamed Jaber Awadh al-Razehi
Personal details
Born (1965-02-08) February 8, 1965
Sa'dah, Yemen
Political partyIndependent
GPC (until March 2011)
ProfessionArms-dealer, businessman, former governor
Military service
AllegianceHouthis
Battles/warsHouthi insurgency in Yemen
  • His authority as governor was not recognised by the Yemeni government in Sana'a

Fares Mohammed Manaa (Arabic: فارس محمد مناع; born February 8, 1965)[1][2] is a top Yemeni arms-dealer,[1][2] businessman,[3] rebel commander and politician.[4] He is said to be Yemen's most famous arms-dealer.[5] Manaa was born on February 8, 1965, in the northern city of Saada.[2] He was an ally of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and member of his ruling GPC party[4] and served as head of his presidential committee and as head of a local council tasked with mediating a peace-deal between the Yemeni government and Houthis during the Shia insurgency in Yemen. His brother was the governor of Saada Governorate at the time.[3][6]

His name was put on a UN Security Council list of people accused of trafficking arms to Somali Islamist insurgent group Al-Shabaab,[1][2] which is considered as a terrorist organisation by the United States[7] and is accused of with al-Qaeda.[8] This led to his assets being frozen by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.[9][10] He was also accused of receiving millions in funds from the then Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi,[11] spying for Libya and supplying arms to the Houthis.[10] Manaa denied these charges claiming that arms had been stolen by Houthis from an arms deposit he owned. In October 2009[12] was put at the top of a blacklist of Yemeni arms-dealers, after which he was put under surveillance.[1][2][10]

In late January 2010, Manaa was arrested by Yemeni authorities[12] leading to protests in Sa'dah by tribal chiefs and the resignation of his brother, Hassan Manaa, as governor.[13] In May, a mini-bus driver was killed and a policeman and a civilian woman were injured[12] as a group of Manaa's men attacked the car in which he was being transported to a penal court. This resulted in his trial being delayed by 25 days.[10][12] He was eventually released on June 4,[12] after which his relations with President Saleh soured.[4]

On March 19, Houthis attacked the city of Sa'dah,[14] starting a battle with pro-government al-Abdin tribesmen,[4] led by Yemeni lawmaker Sheikh Othman Majali.[15] During the battle, rebels joined forces with Fares Manaa[10] and after their victory,[4][15] set up a local committee, composed of rebels, residents and defected military commanders,[16] which appointed him as the new governor of Sa'dah on 26 March, after the pro-Saleh governor Taha Hajer fled to the capital Sanaa.[4][15] He led the Houthis independent administration in Saada governorate[15] until December 2014.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 EUR-Lex REGULATIONS: COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) No 956/2011, 26 September 2011
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 United Nations Security Council SECURITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON SOMALIA AND ERITREA ISSUES LIST OF INDIVIDUALS: IDENTIFIED PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH 8 OF RESOLUTION 1844 (2008), 12 April 2010
  3. 1 2 Sa'ada tribal leaders protest "weapons dealer" imprisonment Archived 2011-08-02 at the Wayback Machine, February 20, 2010
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Houthis Control Sa'ada, Help Appoint Governor Archived 2019-04-11 at the Wayback Machine, 29 March 2011
  5. ↑ Al-Ahram Saleh stalls as Yemen unravels Archived 2012-02-23 at the Wayback Machine, March 30, 2011
  6. ↑ Sana'a Cards to Pressurize Houthis to Enter New Dialogue Rounds, 10 April 2010
  7. ↑ United States Department of State Foreign Terrorist Organizations, September 15, 2011
  8. ↑ allafrica Who's Backing Al Shabaab? - Al Qaeda, Eritrea?, October 31, 2011
  9. ↑ "Yemeni arms dealer's assets frozen". 13 April 2010.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Yemeni weapons dealer released, 21-06-2010
  11. ↑ Mana'a and al-Ahmar received money from Gaddafi to shake security of KSA, Yemen
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Google News Driver killed in Sanaa hit on police convoy, May 11, 2010
  13. ↑ Sa'ada tribal leaders protest "weapons dealer" imprisonment Archived 2011-08-02 at the Wayback Machine, 20 February 2010
  14. ↑ Sa'ada: A Cry for Help
  15. 1 2 3 4 Houthi Group Appoints Arms Dealer as Governor of Sa'ada province
  16. ↑ The Washington Post Yemen crisis intensifies with factory explosion, March 29, 2011
  17. ↑ United Nations Security Council Final report of the Panel of Experts on Yemen established pursuant to Security Council resolution 2140 (2014) paragraph 75
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