Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, ruler and president of UAE, dies at 73

The United Arab Emirates’ long-ailing ruler and president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, died Friday, the government announced in a brief statement. He was 73 years old.

Sheikh Khalifa oversaw much of the country’s blistering economic growth and his name was immortalized on the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, after bailing out debt-crippled Dubai during its financial crisis over a decade ago.

He was then unable to continue his presidency after suffering a stroke, and underwent emergency surgery in 2014.

His half-brother Abu Dhabi crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed rose to become the de-factor ruler, decision-maker for major foreign policy decisions. He was instrumental in establishing an embargo against Qatar and joining the Saudi-led war on Yemen. The crown prince, also the deputy supreme commander of the armed forces, shepherded the UAE’s budding ties with Israel after the two normalized relations in 2020.

The UAE announced a 40-day period of mourning and a three-day suspension of work across the government and private sector, including flags to be flown at half-staff.

While Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed is expected to be the next president, no announcement was made on a possible successor. He would assume the title at a time of high oil prices, which boost the UAE’s spending power.

“The UAE has lost a loyal son, and the leader of its blessed empowerment journey,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed wrote on Twitter after his brother’s death was officially announced on state media. “Khalifa bin Zayed, my brother, supporter and mentor, may Allah Almighty grant you eternal peace.”

In a statement, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken described Sheikh Khalifa “as a true friend of the United States,” adding that the U.S. remains committed to its steadfast friendship and cooperation with the UAE. Ties have been strained between the Biden administration and the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which have not joined U.S. efforts in isolating Russia amid its war in Ukraine.

From all over the world, condolences were pouring in, with the most notable coming from leaders of Arab countries supporting Abu Dhabi.

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Sheikh Khalifa was the eldest son of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, widely revered by Emiratis as the country’s founding father. The Federation was established in 1971, and it recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Though he had been out of public sight since his stroke, Sheikh Khalifa’s image was ubiquitous, gracing every hotel lobby and major government office across the country. Rare photographs and videos of Sheikh Khalifa were published by Emirati state media.

The president holds the most powerful position among the seven semi-autonomous city-states of the UAE, which stretches along the shores of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Abu Dhabi is the richest and largest emirate. Vice president and prime minister are from Dubai. These titles are currently held by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Despite its size and wealth, Abu Dhabi often finds itself overshadowed by the glitzy emirate of Dubai, the commercial hub that showcases both the UAE’s bold visions and, at times, debt-fueled pipe dreams, including a massive palm-shaped man-made island that sits empty years after its construction.

The UAE’s regional power and influence, however, emanates from Abu Dhabi, which has most of the country’s oil and gas reserves. Dubai provides the UAE with a swirl of publicity and headline-grabbing lifestyle and entertainment stories that rights groups say distract from controversial policies decided in Abu Dhabi.

As Dubai’s fortunes began to falter along with the global economy in 2009, Sheikh Khalifa led efforts to protect the federation by pumping billions of dollars in emergency bailout funds to Dubai. Both emirates are not always in agreement on foreign policy issues and have to compete against one another. In 2003, Sheikh Khalifa ordered the creation of a new airline, Etihad Airways, which competes with Dubai’s much larger Emirates Air.

Sheikh Khalifa increasingly used Abu Dhabi’s oil wealth to attract cultural and academic centers, such as a branch of the Louvre Museum and satellite campuses of New York University and the Sorbonne. He was also responsible for efforts to shift OPEC from its dependence on oil and into renewable energy research. This included a vision of Masdar, a futuristic low carbon desert city. The UAE announced last year a net-zero emissions pledge by 2050, even as it expands investments in oil and gas for export.

He has been credited with overseeing the creation and growth of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, now one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds with close to $700 billion in assets, according to estimates by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.

Khalifa also helped boost the UAE’s regional profile by further building up its military and sending warplanes to the NATO-led mission against Moammar Gadhafi’s regime in Libya in 2011. The Emirates was a prominent Arab participant in U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria against militant Islamic State group. In September 2014, it deployed its first female pilot in the initial raid.

Sheikh Khalifa, who was born 1948 in Al Ain (an inland oasis in Al Ain), near the border with Oman. His great grandfather, Sheikh Khalifa shakhbout, is his name. He attended Sandhurst, an English royal military academy.

In 1969, while the area was still a British protectorate, Sheikh Khalifa was named as Abu Dhabi prime minister and chairman of the emirate’s Department of Defense, which later became the core of the UAE’s armed forces. After 1971 independence, he was appointed defense minister.

Although the UAE’s ruling sheikhs hold near absolute power, Sheikh Khalifa began an experiment with elections by allowing limited voting _ by a hand-picked electorate _ for half the members of a 40-seat federal advisory body in 2006. The next round of elections in 2011 or 2015 didn’t attract any of the five eligible voters.

The UAE saw none of the Arab Spring street protests that shook other parts of the region, though in the wake of that unrest, Sheikh Khalifa oversaw crackdowns on Islamists and other activists in the country, drawing criticism from international rights groups. The UAE, which views Islamist movements as a threat to its ruling system, also supported efforts in the region to quash the Muslim Brotherhood, including in Egypt.

Under his presidency, the UAE joined Saudi Arabia in sending forces to Bahrain to quell an uprising there by the country’s majority Shiite population demanding greater rights from the island-nation’s Sunni leadership.

Questions were raised during Khalifa’s rule about the UAE’s use of foreign military contractors, including one linked to the founder of the former Blackwater security firm, Erik Prince, who moved to Abu Dhabi in 2009. According to a source, Prince was involved with a multimillion dollar program to train Somalia’s pirate fighters.

A U.S. diplomatic cable made public by WikiLeaks in 2010 uncharitably described the president as “a distant and uncharismatic personage.”

Sheikh Khalifa was believed to be among the world’s richest rulers with a personal fortune estimated by Forbes magazine in 2008 at $19 billion. He built a palace on the Seychelles (an island-chain country in the Indian Ocean) and was subject to complaints about water pollution.

His private life was not widely known. He was passionate about falconry, as were many Gulf Arab citizens. saidFishing is something he enjoys. He is said to have eight children, two sons, and six daughters, with Sheikha Shamsa bint Suhail Al Mazrouei his first wife. Numerous grandchildren also survived him.