Muhammad Said al-Attar  Muhammad Said al-Attar () (26 November 1927 – 20 November 2005) was the acting Prime Minister of Yemen for five months in 1994. During his career, he held various ministerial positions in Yemen and represented his country at the United Nations. From 1974 to 1985, Muhammad Said Al-Attar was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Western Asia (currently ESCWA). Muhammad Said Al-Attar was born in 1927 in Djibouti from a Yemeni father originally from Al-Hojariya, (in Taez governorate, Al-Shomayatayn district) and a Yemeni mother from Ash Shihr coastal town in Hadhramaut governorate (southern Yemen). He undertook his primary and secondary education between Djibouti and Aden, before moving to Paris where he obtained several degrees in French literature from the University of Paris and a doctorate (Ph.D) in economics and social science from the Faculté des Lettres at the Sorbonne. Between 1959 and 1962, he was a research fellow at the Institut d’Etudes du Developpement Economic et Social in Paris. In 1962, Muhammad Said Al-Attar joined the republican revolutionary movement in Northern Yemen and supported the “26 September revolution” against the Imamat (add reference). In November 1962, he was appointed as the first Director General of the Yemen Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a member of the Supreme Council for Economic Affairs. He subsequently acted as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy and member of the High Committee for Planning from 1965 to 1967, and played a crucial role during the “70 days siege of Sanaa” in 1967. Between 1968 and 1971, Al-Attar was the Permanent Representative of the Arab Republic of Yemen at the United Nations in New York; he was appointed to this position again in 1973. He held the rank of Ambassador when he represented Yemen at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund conferences in 1971, and at the 1972 General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. In December 1973, Al-Attar was appointed Executive Secretary of the newly established United Nations Economic Commission for Western Asia (currently ESCWA) with the rank of United Nations Under-Secretary General. He held this position until 1985 when he returned to the Arab Republic of Yemen. Before and after Yemen's reunification, he served in the government as Acting Prime Minister (1994), Deputy Prime Minister (1985-1990, 1992–1994, 1995-1997), Minister of Development (1985-1990), President of the Central Planning Body (1985), Minister of Industry (1990 -1992), President of the General Investment Authority (1992-1993) and Minister of Petrol and Mineral resources (1995-1997) .