UAE’s Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed dies
Amir condoles passing, congratulates new President ... 40 days of mourning
KUWAIT CITY, May 14, (Agencies): His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Friday expressed heartfelt condolences on the death of President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, saying Arab and Islamic nations lost “a great leader” who dedicated his life for service of his people, defending Arab and Islamic causes.
His Highness the Amir extended deepest condolences on behalf of the government and people of Kuwait in cables of condolences to UAE VicePresident, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammad bin Rahsed Al-Maktoum, and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of UAE Armed forces Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, their families and the people of the UAE.
The State of Kuwait, in grieve over the demise of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, “will always remember his honorable positions towards the (Kuwaiti) just causes during the Iraqi invasion,” said His Highness the Amir.
He prayed to Allah the Almighty to bestow the UAE people with solace, and commended the development that took place during the reign of the deceased which contributed to advancement of the nation.
His Highness the Amir announced a 40-day mourning period, flags flown at half-mast and government departments would be off duty for three days starting May 13.
His Highness the Deputy Amir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah sent cables of condolences to Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed and Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed over the passing away of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed.
His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince expressed condolences to the Emirati people, describing the deceased as “a great leader” who was a staunch defender of Arab and Islamic causes.
His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince also praised the “honorable” position of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed towards Kuwait’s just causes during the Iraqi invasion, and commended his contribution to the development of the UAE.
His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar cables.
The United Arab Emirates’ long-ailing ruler and president, died Friday, the government announced in a brief statement. He was 73.
Sheikh Khalifa oversaw much of the country’s blistering economic growth and his name was immortalized on the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, after bailing out debt-crippled Dubai during its financial crisis over a decade ago.
However, after suffering a stroke and undergoing emergency surgery in 2014, a decade after becoming president, he ceased having any involvement in the day-today affairs of ruling the country.
The last several years of his life saw his half-brother Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed rise to become the de-facto ruler and decision-maker of major foreign policy decisions, such as joining a Saudi-led war in Yemen and spearheading an embargo on neighboring Qatar in recent years. The crown prince, also the deputy supreme commander of the armed forces, shepherded the UAE’s budding ties with Israel after the two normalized relations in 2020.
The UAE announced a 40-day period of mourning and a three-day suspension of work across the government and private sector, including flags to be flown at half-staff.
“The UAE has lost a loyal son, and the leader of its blessed empowerment journey,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed wrote on Twitter after his brother’s death was officially announced on state media. “Khalifa bin Zayed, my brother, supporter and mentor, may Allah Almighty grant you eternal peace.”
In a statement, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken described Sheikh Khalifa “as a true friend of the United States,” adding that the U.S. remains committed to its steadfast friendship and cooperation with the UAE. Vice President Kamala Harris also expressed her condolences.
Ties have been strained between the Biden administration and the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which have not joined U.S. efforts in isolating Russia amid its war in Ukraine.
Messages of condolences also poured in from around the region and the world, foremost from leaders of Arab countries supported by Abu Dhabi. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said the country’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, also expressed condolences.
Sheikh Khalifa was the eldest son of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, widely revered by Emiratis as the country’s founding father. The federation recently marked its 50th anniversary.
Though he had been out of public sight since his stroke, Sheikh Khalifa’s image was ubiquitous, gracing every hotel lobby and major government office across the country. On occasion, Emirati state media published rare photographs and videos of Sheikh Khalifa.
The president holds the most powerful position among the seven semi-autonomous city-states of the UAE, which stretches along the shores of the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Historically, the president is from Abu Dhabi, the largest and richest of the seven emirates. The vice president and prime minister is from Dubai, titles currently held by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Despite its size and wealth, Abu Dhabi often finds itself overshadowed by the glitzy emirate of Dubai, the commercial hub that showcases both the UAE’s bold visions and, at times, debt-fueled pipe dreams, including a massive palm-shaped man-made island that sits empty years after its construction.
The UAE’s regional power and influence, however, emanates from Abu Dhabi, which has most of the country’s oil and gas reserves. Dubai provides the UAE with a swirl of publicity and headline-grabbing lifestyle and entertainment stories that rights groups say distract from controversial policies decided in Abu Dhabi.
As Dubai’s fortunes began to falter along with the global economy in 2009, Sheikh Khalifa led efforts to protect the federation by pumping billions of dollars in emergency bailout funds to Dubai.
Sheikh Khalifa increasingly used Abu Dhabi’s oil wealth to attract cultural and academic centers, such as a branch of the Louvre Museum and satellite campuses of New York University and the Sorbonne. He also presided over efforts to move the OPEC country beyond its reliance on petrodollars with investments in renewable energy
research. The UAE announced last year a net-zero emissions pledge by 2050, even as it expands investments in oil and gas for export.
He has been credited with overseeing the creation and growth of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, now one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds with close to $700 billion in assets, according to estimates by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.
Sheikh Khalifa was born in 1948 in the inland oasis of Al Ain, near the border with the sultanate of Oman. He was trained at Sandhurst, the royal military academy in England.
Armed forces
In 1969, Sheikh Khalifa was named as Abu Dhabi prime minister and chairman of the Emirate’s Department of Defense, which later became the core of the UAE’s armed forces.
Khalifa helped boost the UAE’s regional profile by bulking up its military with hefty purchases from U.S. weapons manufacturers. He set warplanes to the NATO-led mission against Moammar Gadhafi’s regime in Libya in 2011. In 2014, the Emirates became one of the most prominent Arab participants in U.S.-led airstrikes against the militant Islamic State group in Syria.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. will honor Sheikh Khalifa’s legacy “through our strong defense partnership with the United Arab Emirates.” The head of U.S Central Command in the Mideast, Gen. Michael Kurilla, said “the strategic partnership between the armed forces of our two countries is ironclad.” He had a meeting in Abu Dhabi with its crown prince on Thursday.
Although the UAE’s ruling sheikhs hold near absolute power, Sheikh Khalifa began an experiment with elections by allowing limited voting by a hand-picked electorate - for half the members of a 40-seat federal advisory body in 2006. Subsequent rounds of elections in 2011 and 2015 failed to attract even two out of five of those given a chance to vote.
The UAE saw none of the Arab Spring street protests that shook other parts of the region, though in the wake of that unrest, Sheikh Khalifa oversaw crackdowns on Islamists and other activists in the country, drawing criticism from international rights groups. The UAE, which views Islamist movements as a threat to its ruling system, also supported efforts in the region to quash the Muslim Brotherhood, including in Egypt.
Under his presidency, the UAE joined Saudi Arabia in sending forces to Bahrain to quell an uprising there by the country’s majority Shiite population demanding greater rights from the island-nation’s Sunni leadership.
Sheikh Khalifa was believed to be among the world’s richest rulers with a personal fortune estimated by Forbes magazine in 2008 at $19 billion. He built a palace in the Seychelles, an islandchain nation in the Indian Ocean, and faced complaints there about causing water pollution from the construction site.
His personal life was not much in the public eye. Like many in the Gulf Arab states, he was passionate about the traditional sport of falconry and was 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.
New President
Rulers in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday unanimously appointed Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the nation’s president, signaling both unity and stability in this key energy-rich country that hosts Western militaries.
The ascension of Sheikh Mohammed, 61, had been expected after the death Friday of his halfbrother and the UAE’s president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, at the age of 73. The transition of power marks only the third time this U.S.allied nation of seven sheikhdoms has selected a president since becoming an independent nation in 1971.
Under Sheikh Mohammed, who has been the nation’s de facto leader since Sheikh Khalifa suffered a stroke in 2014, the UAE had tried to project power militarily across the wider region as it joined a Saudi-led war in Yemen.
But since the lockdowns of the coronavirus pandemic, Sheikh Mohammed and the wider UAE has tried to recalibrate its approach by largely pulling out of the war and seeking diplomatic detentes with rivals. The UAE also diplomatically recognized Israel, which shares Sheikh Mohammed’s longstanding suspicion of Iran. However, ties to the U.S. have strained in recent years.
The state-run WAM news agency described the vote at Al-Mushrif Palace in Abu Dhabi as unanimous among the rulers of the country’s hereditarily ruled sheikhdoms, which includes the skyscraper-studded city of Dubai.
“We congratulate him, and we pledge allegiance
to him, and our people pledge allegiance to him,” Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said on Twitter after the vote. “The whole country is led by him to take it on the paths of glory and honor, God willing.”
There had been only one death of a president before Friday in the country’s history, which saw Sheikh Khalifa take over for both his and Sheikh Mohammed’s father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, after his death in 2004. Sheikh Zayed, whose name graces a major highway linking the Emirates and whose face appears everywhere in the nation, widely remains viewed as the country’s founding father.
The UAE as a whole is observing a three-day mourning period, which will see businesses shut across the country and performances halted in Sheikh Khalifa’s honor. Electronic billboards all showed the late sheikh’s image in Dubai on Friday night as flags flew at half-staff. A wider mourning period of 40 days will go on beyond that.
Sheikh Mohammed had been serving as the UAE’s de facto president since a 2014 stroke saw Sheikh Khalifa disappear from public view.
Known by the acronym MbZ, Sheikh Mohammed cultivated ties with the West that proved valuable for Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE that commands tens of billions of dollars in wealth funds from its oil and gas deposits. A U.S. diplomatic cable from 2004 released by WikiLeaks referred to him as “charismatic, savvy and very comfortable in the West.” He hosted then-President George W. Bush in 2008 at his desert estate, a visit complete with Bedouin tents and falcons.
The country hosts some 3,500 U.S. troops, many at Abu Dhabi’s Al-Dhafra Air Base, from where drones and fighter jets flew missions combating the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Dubai also is the U.S. Navy’s busiest port of call abroad. Both France and South Korea also maintained a military presence here.
Sheikh Mohammed trained at the British military academy at Sandhurst and is a helicopter pilot. His military-first approach saw the UAE join Saudi Arabia in their bloody, years-long war in Yemen that still rages to this day. Sheikh Mohammed has had a close relationship with neighboring Saudi Arabia’s own crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. However, the Emirates has largely withdrawn its troops from Yemen.
Sheikh Mohammed also long has been suspicious of both the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran, likely organizing a campaign targeting Islamists in the UAE after the 2011 Arab Spring and urging the West to take a harder line toward Tehran over concerns about its nuclear program and its support of paramilitary groups throughout the region. The UAE’s recognition of Israel in 2020, while opening new trade and tourism, also serves as a hedge in dealing with Iran.
Amir’s envoy
Representing His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and his accompanying delegation, on Saturday offered condolence to UAE President Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Al Nahyan family sheikhs over the demise of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah has expressed heartfelt condolences to the leadership, government and people of the UAE on demise of President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.
The minister, in a condolence note at the UAE embassy in Kuwait on Saturday, expressed deep condolences and consolation on the president death, recalling his paramount role in the UAE prosperity and development as well his role in cementing the brotherly Kuwait-UAE relations.
Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nasser also underscored his distinguished role as a Gulf-Arab-international leader, praying to Allah to bestow mercy upon his soul and aid the bereaved Al-Nahyan family and the UAE people with patience to cope with the great loss.
Kuwait’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Friday sent a cable of condolences to his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al-Nahyan over the passing away of the UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
In the cable, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Nawaf recalled several achievements and comprehensive renaissance made in all fields in the UAE during the tenure of Sheikh Khalifa, the ministry’s media department said in a press statement.
The Kuwaiti minister also remembered Sheikh Khalifa’s sincere efforts made in serving Arab and Muslim nations’ issues, it added.
Expressing his heartfelt condolences, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Nawaf prayed to Allah the Almighty to bestow his mercy on Sheikh Khalifa’s soul, and bring solace to his family and UAE’s people, according to the statement.
Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defense
Minister Sheikh Talal Khaled Al-Sabah Friday expressed heartfelt condolences in cables sent to senior Emirati officials over the death of the UAE President Sheikh Khalifa.
Sheikh Talal Khaled sent the cables to UAE Vice-President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammad bin Rahsed, and the newly installed UAE president Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan as well as Minster of State for Defense Affairs Mohammad bin Ahmad Al-Bowardi.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden congratulated Saturday his “long-time friend” Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan on his election as President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) , says KUNA.
“As I told Sheikh Mohammad yesterday during our phone call, the United States is determined to honor the memory of the
late president Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan by continuing to strengthen the strategic partnership between our countries over the coming months and years,” Biden said in a statement.
He affirmed that the UAE is “an essential partner” of the US.
He added “Sheikh Mohammad, whom I met with several times as Vice President when he was the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, has long been at the forefront of building this partnership.”
“I look forward to working with Sheikh Mohammad to build from this extraordinary foundation to further strengthen the bonds between our countries and peoples,” Biden remarked.
The Federal Supreme Council of the UAE unanimously elected Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the UAE President.