At 73 years old and after suffering a long illness, the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, passed away this Friday, May 13. The leader had brought the Persian Gulf state closer to the United States and its Western allies.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) establishes 40 days of mourning after the death of its president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The leader died at the age of 73 after suffering a long illness, confirmed the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, although it did not issue further details.
However, Khalifa, born in 1948, had rarely been seen in public since he suffered a stroke in 2014.
“The UAE has lost its righteous son and leader of the ’empowerment phase’ and guardian of its blessed journey (…) His postures, achievements, wisdom and generosity (are present) in all corners of the country,” said his half-brother and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed.
United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has died, state news agency WAM reported on Friday: Reuters
(File pic) pic.twitter.com/892PRGI1Hg
— ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2022
As part of the tributes, the authorities also announced the suspension of work in all public institutions and private companies as of this Friday, as well as the lowering of the national flags.
Since falling ill, the sheikh has handed over work to his half-brother, Mohamed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, who has become the strongest figure in the UAE and de facto leader of the Emirates in recent years.
Who was Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan?
Khalifa bin Zayed came to power in 2004 after the death of his father, the founder of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed, a man who unified the seven emirates that make up the UAE and managed to coordinate its conversion from a desert country into a rich oil state, stable and with the most dynamic economy in the region.
Khalifa followed in his father’s footsteps and led the implementation of numerous modernization and development projects in the country, in addition to investments of billions of dollars, until in 2014 he suffered a stroke for which he underwent urgent surgery in a your nation’s hospital.
In the Emirates, the ruling sheiks have almost total power. But Khalifa began experimenting with elections shortly after coming to power. He allowed limited voting for 20 of the 40 seats on the federal advisory body in 2006. Subsequent elections failed to attract at least half of the limited number of people allowed to vote.
Still, the UAE has been one of the most stable territories in the region and was spared the protests during the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ that rocked parts of the Middle East and North Africa.
Leaders of the international community fire Khalifa
Condolences began pouring in from Arab leaders, the United States and Israel. With the latter, the United Arab Emirates forged ties in 2020 together with Bahrain.
“Sheikh Khalifa’s bold leadership contributed much to the advancement of the United Arab Emirates and its people and to the growing partnership between our countries and is a great legacy to his successors,” said Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
On behalf of the people of Israel I send my deepest condolences to my friend Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed and his family on the death of HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. This is a great loss for our friends in the UAE and for the whole region.
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) May 13, 2022
Washington’s mission to the United Arab Emirates called Khalifa “a true friend of the United States.”
In a statement, the secretary general of the Arab League, Ahmed Abulgueit, lamented “with deep sadness and pain” the death of the Emirati leader, whose “merits and deeds” will leave a mark “in the Arab collective conscience for present and future generations” .
For his part, the Egyptian president, Abdelfatah al Sisi, lamented in a message on Twitter the death “of one of the most precious men and one of the greatest leaders” that led to “the Emirates becoming a model of development and modernity in the region and the world”.
Likewise, the leaders of Lebanon and Syria, Bahrain and King Abdullah II of Jordan, among others, expressed their condolences.
At home, some Emiratis remembered the late president for his generosity and his drive to develop the United Arab Emirates, with a population of some 10 million people, most of them expatriate workers.
“The people of the United Arab Emirates are grateful to the president for the opportunities he has created for them, for the development of the country under his leadership,” Emirati citizen Ali Al Khatri told Reuters in the capital Abu Dhabi.
Mohammed bin Zayed would be appointed as the new president of the UAE
Under the constitution, Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, would act as president until the federal supreme council bringing together the rulers of the seven emirates meets within 30 days to elect a new President.
Diplomats and analysts expect Mohammed bin Zayed, half-brother of the late leader and crown prince of Abu Dhabi, to become the new president, further consolidating power that had already grown under Khalifa.
“Not much will change in the UAE’s foreign and domestic policies, except that MbZ will have even less reason to seek consensus with Dubai and other Emirates,” said Cinzia Bianco, a researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Bin Zayed led a Middle East realignment that created a new anti-Iran axis with Israel and fought a rising tide of political Islam in the region.
With Reuters, AP and EFE
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