UAE President: Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed has Passed Away | Announcement of 40-day Mourning Period

According to the sources, we came to know that Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, died on Friday at the age of 73, after fighting sickness for several years. He was the Gulf country’s second president, having taken office in 2004. He is recognized for bringing the UAE, a modest desert sheikhdom of seven emirates, to global prominence and for guiding the country through the 2008 financial crisis.

As per the statement of WAM, it states that The Ministry of Presidential Affairs expresses its condolences to the citizens of the UAE, the Arab and Islamic world, and the rest of the globe on the death of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. The statement also announces that the UAE will conduct a forty-day state of mourning beginning today, with the flag flying at half-mast, and will cease activity at all ministries, departments, and federal, local, and private institutions for three days, as per the Ministry of Presidential Affairs.

It was revealed that in the year 2014, Sheikh Khalifa suffered a stroke and needed surgery. In the years since he has been hardly seen among the public. His role then became mostly ceremonial, while he continued to issue decrees, and his brother, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, is often regarded as the UAE’s de-facto ruler, overseeing the country’s day-to-day operations.

Coming to his life and work, Sheikh Khalifa was born in 1948 in Abu Dhabi, 23 years before the foundation of the UAE in 1971. He was the oldest son of the country’s founder, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. After his father died in 2004, he assumed the presidency. Before taking charge of the presidency, he was the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and chairman of the Supreme Petroleum Council, the oil-rich emirate’s highest energy decision-making body.

Interestingly, Sheikh Khalifa led economic reforms and modernization while leading the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the world’s largest investment institutions, during his administration. In 2008, he supported the UAE’s purchase of English Premier League soccer team Manchester City, and the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, was named after him in 2010.