DUBAI (Reuters) – The president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and emir of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, died on Friday, the Emirati ministry of presidential affairs said in a statement on Friday without giving further details.
Under the terms of the Constitution, the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Emir of Dubai, will assume the interim presidency until the Federal Council (a body bringing together the leaders of the seven emirates composing the federal state of the UAE-Editor’s note) meets to elect a new president, within 30 days.
The UAE presidency has always been held by the Emir of Abu Dhabi – the wealthiest of the seven emirates – since the founding of the federation in 1971 by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan’s father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Soultan al Nahyan .
Born in 1948, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Nahyan was the Emir of Abu Dhabi and has presided over the UAE since his father’s death in 2004.
He has made very few public appearances since suffering a stroke in 2014 and his half-brother, Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, nicknamed MbZ – who is expected to succeed him as leader of the Emirates – was already the de facto ruler of the federal state.
(Yomna Ehab report, written by Nadine Awadalla; French version Myriam Rivet, edited by Sophie Louet)
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