Dubai: The President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ‘Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan’, Ruler of Abu Dhabi, passed away on Friday, May 13.
Following his sudden demise, everybody was shocked and saddened, and many were tensed about the new President and thinking about who will become the new President of the UAE.
On Saturday, the United Arab Emirates’ de facto leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan was elected President of the Gulf Arab state by a federal supreme council, become the ruler of the oil-rich country founded by his father in late 1971.
Sheikh Mohamed, mostly known as ‘MBZ’, met members of the Federal Supreme Council, made up of rulers of the UAE’s seven emirates. The whole oil-rich country enters a period of mourning for its half-brother Sheikh Khalifa.
According to his Twitter post, “We congratulate him and pledge his loyalty to him as do our people, and the entire country will going to follow his lead to glory,” Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also UAE vice-president and premier.
MbZ, 61, had already been exerting power for years in a period when Sheikh Khalifa suffered from many illnesses, including a stroke in 2014.
He became president when the UAE needed it most because the UAE’s long-standing ties with the United States had been visibly strained over perceived U.S. disengagement from its Gulf allies’ security concerns.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan acted as the UAE President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi since November 3, 2004.
Born in 1948, Sheikh Khalifa was the second President of the United Arab Emirates and the 16th Ruler of Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
He was the most senior son of Sheikh Zayed.
After being selected as President, Sheikh Khalifa founded his first strategic plan for the UAE administration in order to attain balanced and sustainable development, placing the prosperity of UAE citizens & residents at the core.