World leaders in UAE to pay respects to late ruler
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
An array of presidents — and prime ministers continued to descend on the United Arab Emirates on Sunday from around the world to pay their respects to the federation’s late ruler. They also came to praise his successor, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
a vivid sign of Abu Dhabi’s — influence in Western and Arab capitals.
The first Western leader to jet to the oil-rich emirate was French President Emmanuel Macron. He met with Sheikh Mohammed to pay tribute to Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the long-ailing ruler who died Friday at the age of 73 after years presiding over the country’s rapid transformation into a global business hub and regional power center.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived later Sunday to offer condolences, along with other leaders including Israel’s president after the two countries opened formal relations in 2020.
A high-profile American delegation led by Vice President Kamala Harris is due to visit the UAE today, a bid to ease tensions and show support as relations between the countries have strained under President Joe Biden. The delegation will include the U.S. secretary of state, secretary of defense and CIA director, among others.
“He was respected by all for the values of peace, openness and dialogue that he embodied,” Macron wrote on Twitter of Sheikh Khalifa, expressing “full support” for the ascension of his halfbrother Sheikh Mohammed after rulers in the federation unanimously appointed him as president.
As crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed has served as the nation’s de facto leader since Sheikh Khalifa suffered a stroke in 2014. He has turned the small UAE — population 10 million — into one of the most influential Arab states. With Abu Dhabi’s petrodollars and substantial military along with Dubai’s major firms and glitzy hotels, the UAE has come to wield outsized power across the Middle East and Africa.
Even as the country became entangled in the bloody, yearslong conflict in Yemen and a chaotic proxy war in Libya, it positioned itself as a savvy and reliable partner in Western capitals.
British Prime Minister Johnson, for his part, said his visit to mourn Sheikh Khalifa showed “the deep ties which unite our countries will continue through our cooperation and friendship.”
Queen Elizabeth II also congratulated Sheikh Mohammed on his assumption of power and praised her country’s “strong and historic bonds” with the UAE, a former British protectorate.