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State media within the UAE introduced Friday that longtime ruler Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has died on the age of 73.
Al Nahyan had been battling sickness for a number of years.
The Emirati authorities introduced a 40-day mourning interval. A 3-day suspension of labor in all ministries and the non-public sector begins Friday, and flags will probably be flown at half-mast.
Who was Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan?
Khalifa’s half-brother, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, mentioned the UAE “misplaced its righteous son and chief of the ’empowerment section.”
“His stances, achievements, knowledge and generosity [is present] in each nook of the nation,” he wrote on Twitter.
In an announcement following the information of his passing, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described Khalifa as “a real good friend of the US” and that he will probably be missed.
Khalifa bin Zayed got here to energy in 2004 after the dying of his father, UAE founder Sheikh Zayed.
Throughout Khalifa’s rule, the UAE applied a number of modernization and improvement tasks, in addition to billions of {dollars} in investments. However after struggling a stroke in 2014, he had hardly ever been seen in public occasions and had lengthy ceased having involvement in day-to-day affairs.
Mohammed bin Zayed has been seen because the de facto ruler of the UAE. He’s anticipated to be introduced as the following president.
Within the Emirates, ruling sheikhs maintain near-total energy. However Khalifa started experimenting with elections shortly after he rose to energy. He allowed restricted voting for 20 of the 40-seat federal advisory physique in 2006. Following rounds of polls failed to draw the even much less the half the restricted variety of folks allowed to vote.
Nonetheless, the UAE has been some of the secure international locations within the area. It noticed not one of the Arab Spring protests that shook components of the Center East and North Africa.
The 12 months he fell unwell, 2014, the UAE turned some of the distinguished Arab contributors in US-led airstrikes towards the Islamic State militant group in Syria.
A 12 months later, the UAE joined the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, on the facet of the nation’s internationally acknowledged authorities towards Shiite rebels.
fb/rt (AFP, AP, Reuters, EFE)
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