Sheikh Khalifa Ben Zayed Al Nahyan, in Riyadh March 28, 2007. AHMED JADALLAH/ REUTERS
Over the past two decades, he has overseen his country’s meteoric rise on the international stage. The President of the United Arab Emirates, Khalifa Ben Zayed Al Nahyan, has died at the age of 73, local authorities said on Friday, April 13.
The government of the Gulf state ordered “an official mourning and the flags at half-mast” for a period of forty days, reports the official news agency WAM. The next three days from Friday are also work-free. The portrait of the late president was immediately displayed throughout the emirate’s streets, institutions and even hotels.
Khalifa Ben Zayed Al Nahyan, who has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in January 2014, was soon to be replaced by his half-brother, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed Ben Zayed, known as “MBZ”, who already considered the de facto ruler of the country.
“Khalifa Ben Zayed, my brother, my mentor and my teacher, may God have mercy on you,” said on Twitter Mohammed Bin Zayed. “His positions, achievements, wisdom, generosity and initiatives can be found in every corner of the country,” he added.
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economic boom
Born in September 1948, Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan succeeded his father, Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, in 2004 as President and Founding Father of the United Arab Emirates, a wealthy Gulf state comprising seven emirates including Dubai and the capital Abu Dhabi.
After the federation was formed in 1971, Khalifa Ben Zayed Al Nahyan was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and then headed the Superior Petroleum Council, a body with wide-ranging powers over energy.
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Under the mandate of Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Emirates experienced rapid economic growth, fueled by Abu Dhabi’s oil wealth, which concentrates 90% of the Federation’s reserves, and Dubai’s confirmation as a financial hub, luxury tourist destination or aviation hub. But like their President, the Emirates have remained relatively discreet on the international stage and have generally lined up behind their great ally, Saudi Arabia, juggernaut of the Gulf and Arab world, of which they remain the leading economy.
According to observers, it is under the impetus of Prince Mohammed Ben Zayed that the country has gradually stepped out of its usual discretion, particularly since the 2010s, with growing influence in the Middle East and Africa. Abu Dhabi even participates in military interventions against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, then in Yemen, along with the Saudis to fight the Houthi rebels near Iran.
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