YEMEN - Profile - Rashid Saleh Baraba'.

Appointed as the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources in early April 2001, Baraba' is regarded as a shrewd political operator. He replaced Mohammed Al Khadem Al Wajih, under whom he had served as deputy oil minister having succeeded to the post in late 1996 replacing Mohieddin Al Dhabbi. Baraba' had already been expanding his influence within the oil sector while he was deputy minister, to the extent that he was seen as a key player by foreign companies trying to do business in Yemen.

However, Baraba's powers as minister are limited by the Supreme Council and by Shaikh Hamid Al Ahmar who heads the ministry's Petroleum E&P Board (PEPB). Shaikh Hamid is the son of powerful Speaker Shaikh Abdullah Al Ahmar. (This ministry was established in September 1985 and the Supreme Council was created in February of that year. The PEPB used to be part of South Yemen's oil ministry. After the unification of May 1990, that ministry in Aden was abolished and the PEPB was brought to the Sanaa ministry).