Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi and president of the United Arab Emirates since 2004, died Friday aged 73. He had been unwell for years although the reason for loss of life was not instantly launched. “The Ministry of Presidential Affairs condoles the individuals of the UAE, the Arab and Islamic nation, and the world over the demise of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE,” AFP stated quoting WAM information company.
The ministry additionally introduced a 40-day mourning interval, the Khaleej Instances reported. Flags can be flown at half-mast and ministries and different departments will droop work beginning Friday.
The chief of the oil-rich state, hardly ever seen in public – significantly after surgical procedure following a stroke in 2014 – is probably going to get replaced by his brother, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed is already seen because the UAE’s de facto ruler.
“The Emirates has misplaced its virtuous son and chief of the ‘stage of empowerment’ and the trustee of its blessed journey,” bin Zayed tweeted in Arabic.
“His stances, achievements, knowledge, generosity and initiatives are in each nook of the nation… Khalifa bin Zayed, my brother… might God have mercy on you and grant you entry to paradise.”
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed’s loss of life has been mourned all over the world, with Kerala chief minister Pinaryai Vijayan, union minister Piyush Goyal and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi amongst these paying tributes from India.
The Congress’ Kerala unit and Kerala MP Shashi Tharoor additionally tweeted.
New Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sherif has additionally provided his condolences.
Sheikh Khalifa took over as president (UAE’s second) in November 2004, succeeding his father because the sixteenth ruler of Abu Dhabi, the richest of the federation’s seven emirates.
A decade later he suffered a stroke and underwent surgical procedure, after which he largely disappeared from public life.
He did, nevertheless, concern rulings infrequently.
Though he had no formal larger schooling, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahya led the UAE as Dubai reworked right into a tourism and commerce hub, and Abu Dhabi pumped oil as a key OPEC participant.
He got here to the rescue of Dubai when it was hit by the worldwide monetary disaster in 2009, extending a multi-billion-dollar lifeline to the debt-laden emit.
The Arab world’s second-biggest economic system behind Saudi Arabia has additionally begun to wield rising political affect, filling an area ceded by conventional powers reminiscent of Egypt, Iraq and Syria.
The nation of 10 million additionally joined army campaigns in Libya and Yemen and broke ranks with a lot of the Arab world to determine ties with Israel in 2020.
With enter from AFP, PTI
,
