UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in 2007.
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UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in 2007.
AP
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the long ailing ruler of the United Arab Emirates, died on Friday, the government’s state news agency announced in a brief statement. He was 73 years old.
Khalifa, the president of the UAE, oversaw much of the country’s booming economic growth and his name has been immortalized on the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, after saving Dubai from falling dire situation during the financial crisis more than a decade ago.
The UAE’s Ministry of Presidential Affairs has announced a 40-day period of mourning and a 3-day suspension of work for all ministries and the private sector starting Friday, including flags to be flown. on payroll.
He had long since ceased to be involved in the day-to-day affairs of governing the country. Instead, his half-brother, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed, is seen as a factorless ruler and decision maker in major foreign policy decisions, such as such as participating in the Saudi-led war in Yemen and leading an embargo against the neighboring country. Qatar in recent years.
There was no immediate announcement of a successor, although Mohammed bin Zayed is expected to claim the presidency.
Khalifa, who has rarely appeared in official photos or at public events for many years, succeeded his father, Sheikh Zayed, the founder of the UAE, in 2004.
He suffered a stroke and was hospitalized a decade later, though officials didn’t release the news until the next day. Since then, he has not appeared in public anymore.
In 2017, 2018 and 2019, Emirati state media published rare photos and videos of Khalifa. In the latest images, Khalifa wears white sneakers and a traditional white robe as he greets Sheikh Mohammed and other leaders at the Emirates.
Khalifa, the eldest son of the UAE’s first leader after the union was formed in 1971, holds the most powerful position of the seven semi-autonomous cities that stretch along the shores of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. His presidency stems from his status as hereditary ruler of Abu Dhabi, the largest and richest emirate in the UAE. Abu Dhabi is home to the federal capital.
Despite its size and vast oil reserves, Abu Dhabi is often overshadowed by its lavish neighboring emirate, Dubai, the heart of Middle Eastern commerce, which embodies both the UAE’s bold visions and, at times, the dreams of pipelines full of debt, including a giant palm tree- The artificial island lies empty years after its creation.
When Dubai’s fortunes began to falter alongside the global economy in 2009, Khalifa spearheaded federal defense efforts by injecting billions of dollars in emergency relief funds into Dubai. The two emirates do not always keep an eye on foreign policy decisions and compete for trade with each other. In 2003, he called for the creation of a new airline, Etihad Airways, to compete with Dubai’s much larger and successful Emirates Air.
Khalifa increasingly uses Abu Dhabi’s oil wealth to attract cultural and academic centers, such as the branches of the Louvre museum and the satellite campuses of New York University and the Sorbonne. He also presided over efforts to move the OPEC nation away from its dependence on the oil dollar with investments in renewable energy research, including plans for a low-carbon desert city in the region. future is called Masdar.
Abu Dhabi’s massive spending abroad during the reign of Khalifa also helped push the emirate, which controls most of the UAE’s oil reserves, out of Dubai’s shadow.
In 2007, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, bailed out Citigroup Inc. is ailing with the amount of $ 7.5 billion. Less than two years later, another Abu Dhabi state fund made one of its largest in a series of notable purchases, paying nearly 2 billion euros (then worth about $2.7 billion). ) for a 9.1% stake in German carmaker Daimler AG, which is behind Mercedes-Benz.
Meanwhile, Khalifa has helped elevate the UAE’s regional profile with relief missions to Pakistan following devastating floods and by sending fighter jets to a NATO-led mission against Moammar’s regime Gadhafi in Libya in 2011.
Questions have been raised during Mr Khalifa’s time in power about the UAE’s use of foreign military contractors, including one regarding the founder of the former Blackwater security firm, Erik Prince, who moved to Abu Dhabi in 2009. Prince was involved in a multi-million dollar program to train troops to fight piracy in Somalia, according to an official who spoke with the Associated Press in early 2009.
But Khalifa’s name is perhaps the most familiar around the world because of its association with the world’s tallest building, a glass and steel spire nearly half a mile (828 meters) long in Dubai.
The tower’s name was unexpectedly changed from Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa when it officially opened in January 2010 after he decided to transfer billions of dollars to Dubai to save it from a full-blown financial crisis.
Khalifa took over as president of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi in November 2004 following the death of his father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who is revered by many by Emiratis as the country’s founding father.
The image of Khalifa was ubiquitous, capturing hotel lobbies and government offices across the country. But unlike Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president of the federation and prime minister, he is rarely seen in public.
A US diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks in 2010 falsely described the president as “an aloof and unconventional figure.”
Khalifa was born in 1948 in the inland oasis of Al Ain, near the border with the kingdom of Oman, and is named after his grandfather, Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbout.
In 1969, when the area was still a British protectorate, Khalifa was appointed prime minister of Abu Dhabi and chairman of the emirate’s Ministry of Defense, later becoming the core of the UAE’s armed forces. . After independence in 1971, he became defense minister among other roles. After that, the title of supreme commander of the armed forces was assumed by Mohammed bin Zayed.
Although the UAE’s ruling sheikhs hold near absolute power, Khalifa has begun an experiment with elections by allowing limited voting – by a handpicked electorate – for half of the members of the 40-seat federal advisory body in 2006. Subsequent election rounds in 2011 and 2015 failed to attract even two of the people who had a chance to vote.
The UAE saw no Arab Spring street protests that rocked other parts of the region, although in the face of that unrest, Khalifa oversaw a tightening of the crackdown on protesters. Islamists and other activists, drawing criticism from international human rights groups. The UAE also supports regional efforts to contain the Muslim Brotherhood, including in Egypt.
He is said to be one of the richest rulers in the world with a personal fortune estimated by Forbes magazine in 2008 at $19 billion. He built a palace in the Seychelles, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, and faced complaints there about polluting water from the construction site.
In 2007, Khalifa made a big gift to the Johns Hopkins Medicine complex in Baltimore. The size of the donation was not disclosed, but it was described as “convertible”.
After he fell ill, his half-brother and designated successor, Mohammed bin Zayed, took over many of Khalifa’s duties following the stroke, often alongside Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai. The transition went largely unnoticed, as many Emiratis and foreign diplomats have long viewed the crown prince as the central power broker in the UAE’s leadership.
In September 2014, Emirates became one of the most prominent Arab participants in US-led air strikes against the Islamic State militant group in Syria, deploying its first female pilot. Air force participated in the initial air raid.
Those ventures were followed by a muscular intervention in Yemen as part of a Saudi-led coalition that sided with the internationally recognized impoverished government against the Shiite rebels who had seized control of the country. capital Sanaa and other areas. The UAE has deployed thousands of troops, 52 of whom were killed in a September 2015 missile attack on their base – the heaviest military loss in the country’s history.
Khalifa’s personal life does not get much public attention. Like many in the Gulf, he is passionate about the traditional sport of falconry and is said to enjoy fishing. He is known to have had eight children – two sons and six daughters – with his first wife, Sheikha Shamsa bint Suhail Al Mazrouei. He is also survived by several grandchildren.
