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Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who marshaled the oil wealth of the United Arab Emirates to develop the Persian Gulf nation into an financial powerhouse and shut associate of the USA throughout his 18 years as head of state, died on Friday. He was 73.
His demise was reported by the state-run Emirates Information Company. No trigger was given. Sheikh Khalifa had a stroke in 2014 and subsequently stepped again from a lot of his public duties. The federal government introduced that authorities places of work and personal companies would shut for 3 days starting Friday, and {that a} 40-day mourning interval can be noticed throughout the nation.
Sheikh Khalifa grew to become the ruler of the U.A.E., a federation of seven semiautonomous city-states alongside the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, after the demise of his father in 2004. His tenure was marked by swift financial growth, dented solely by a debt disaster within the glitzy metropolis of Dubai within the late 2000s that he helped finish by pouring in billions of {dollars} from the wealthier emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Dubai thanked him by naming the world’s tallest constructing after him, altering its identify from Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa.
His reign was additionally punctuated by turmoil across the Center East. In the course of the uprisings generally known as the Arab Spring, which unfold throughout the area in 2011, his authorities intervened behind the scenes to help strongmen and undermine political Islamists. His navy labored intently with the USA in Afghanistan, joined the coalition in opposition to the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and partnered with Saudi Arabia in its navy intervention in opposition to the Houthi rebels in Yemen in 2015.
It was throughout his tenure that the Emirates and neighboring Bahrain established formal diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020, the primary Arab states to normalize relations with the Jewish state in practically three many years.
Within the Emirates, Sheikh Khalifa was a towering, if distant, determine, who not often appeared in public however whose picture was seemingly all over the place: on the partitions in authorities places of work, behind reception desks at motels. Along with serving because the emir of Abu Dhabi, he was the nation’s president and the top of its armed forces, funding fund and petroleum council, which oversees oil coverage.
After his stroke, he stepped again from the day by day affairs of presidency, delegating energy to his youthful half brother, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nayhan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, who championed a extra assertive international coverage.
It was extensively anticipated that Sheikh Mohammed would succeed Sheikh Khalifa because the Emirates’ new ruler, however no details about the formal succession course of was instantly obtainable.
In a post on Twitter, Sheikh Mohammed stated Emiratis had been “united in grief” on the lack of a “brother and mentor.”
“We had been blessed by your power, knowledge and management,” he wrote.
In a press release, President Biden referred to as Sheikh Khalifa “a real associate and good friend of the USA,” and stated the U.S. authorities would “honor his reminiscence by persevering with to strengthen the longstanding ties between the governments and other people of the USA and the United Arab Emirates.”
Like different oil-rich monarchies within the Persian Gulf, the Emirates has lengthy seemed to the USA for defense from exterior threats in addition to a spot to purchase costly navy gear.
However tensions between the 2 nations have risen this 12 months over the Emirates’ resistance to affix Western efforts to isolate President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia over his invasion of Ukraine. Additionally clouding relations is a way within the Emirates that the USA isn’t doing sufficient to make sure the safety of its Gulf companions, particularly from Iran and its armed proxies.
Sheikh Khalifa was born in 1948 within the oasis of Al Ain within the emirate of Abu Dhabi. He was the primary son of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who would turn into the Emirates’ first post-independence ruler, and Hassa bint Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan.
On the time, Abu Dhabi was one among a set of Arab sheikhdoms in southeastern Arabia that had signed protecting treaties with the British. Sheikh Khalifa studied on the British Royal Navy Academy at Sandhurst.
In 1966, the British put in his father because the ruler of Abu Dhabi in a cold coup in opposition to Sheikh Zayed’s elder brother.
Sheikh Khalifa returned to Abu Dhabi from Britain to work beneath his father, and his function grew after the Emirates grew to become impartial in 1971 and his father grew to become head of state. Sheikh Khalifa headed the petroleum council, which oversaw oil coverage, a key put up in a desert nation with few sources apart from hydrocarbons.
He additionally oversaw the armed forces and the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, which grew to an estimated $700 billion, making it one of many world’s largest.
His father died in 2004, and the following day Sheikh Khalifa succeeded him because the ruler of Abu Dhabi and the president of the Emirates, positions he held till his demise.
His private wealth was stated to have been formidable. In 2011, Forbes reported that he was value $15 billion, making him one of many world’s richest monarchs. In 2018, the journal positioned him No. 43 on its record of the world’s strongest individuals.
Sheikh Khalifa is survived by his spouse, Shamsa bint Suhail Al Mazrouei, their eight youngsters, and an undisclosed variety of grandchildren.
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