United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan has died aged 74. The government of the Gulf country has decreed “an official mourning and the flags at half mast” for a period of 40 days.
The President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who had accompanied his country’s meteoric rise on the international scene for the past two decades, has died, authorities announced on Friday. The Gulf country’s government has declared “official mourning and flags lowered” for 40 days, the official WAM news agency said. The late head of state had been rare in public since a stroke in January 2014.
Born in January 1948, Sheikh Khalifa succeeded in 2004 to his father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, president and founding father of the United Arab Emirates, a rich Gulf state comprising seven emirates including Dubai and the capital Abu Dhabi. But since the 2014 stroke, his famous half-brother, Mohammed bin Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi nicknamed “MBZ”, has been running the country’s affairs and remains considered the de facto ruler of the influential oil monarchy. growing.
After the establishment in 1971 of the federation, which includes Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Sheikh Khalifa was appointed deputy prime minister of the new state. He then chaired the Superior Petroleum Council, a body endowed with broad powers in the energy field.