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 accomplice 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 lots of his public duties. The federal government introduced that authorities workplaces 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 turned 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. Through the uprisings often called the Arab Spring, which unfold throughout the area in 2011, his authorities intervened behind the scenes to assist strongmen and undermine political Islamists. His navy labored intently with the USA in Afghanistan, joined the coalition towards the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and partnered with Saudi Arabia in its navy intervention towards 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 hardly ever appeared in public however whose picture was seemingly in all places: on the partitions in authorities workplaces, 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 overseas coverage.
It was broadly anticipated that Sheikh Mohammed would succeed Sheikh Khalifa because the Emirates’ new ruler, however no details about the formal succession course of was instantly accessible.
In a post on Twitter, Sheikh Mohammed mentioned Emiratis have been “united in grief” on the lack of a “brother and mentor.”
“We have been blessed by your energy, knowledge and management,” he wrote.
In a press release, President Biden referred to as Sheikh Khalifa “a real accomplice and good friend of the USA,” and mentioned 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 appeared to the USA for cover from exterior threats in addition to a spot to purchase costly navy tools.
However tensions between the 2 nations have risen this yr 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 just 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 grow to be 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 Army Academy at Sandhurst.
In 1966, the British put in his father because the ruler of Abu Dhabi in a cold coup towards Sheikh Zayed’s elder brother.
Sheikh Khalifa returned to Abu Dhabi from Britain to work below his father, and his function grew after the Emirates turned impartial in 1971 and his father turned head of state. Sheikh Khalifa headed the petroleum council, which oversaw oil coverage, a key submit in a desert nation with few assets aside 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 subsequent 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 mentioned to have been formidable. In 2011, Forbes reported that he was price $15 billion, making him one of many world’s richest monarchs. In 2018, the journal positioned him No. 43 on its checklist of the world’s strongest folks.
Sheikh Khalifa is survived by his spouse, Shamsa bint Suhail Al Mazrouei, their eight youngsters, and an undisclosed variety of grandchildren.
