UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed passed away at the age of 73

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – The official news agencies announced on Friday the death of the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, at the age of 73.

Sheikh Khalifa was the second president of the Gulf country, serving since 2004. He is credited with helping bring the Emirates, a small desert chiefdom of seven emirates, to global prominence and leading the country through turbulent times during the 2008 financial crisis.

A statement issued by the Emirates News Agency (WAM) stated that the Ministry of Presidential Affairs offers its condolences to the people of the Emirates, the Arab and Islamic nation and the world on the death of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State.

The Ministry of Presidential Affairs also announced that the UAE will hold the official mourning for the United Arab Emirates for a period of forty days, with the half-mast flag being raised from today, and the suspension of work in all ministries, departments, and federal, local and private agencies for a period of three days, and the news agency wrote in a tweet.

Sheikh Khalifa had a stroke and underwent surgery in 2014. He was rarely seen in public in the years since. His role thereafter became largely ceremonial although he still issues decrees, and his brother, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, is widely seen as the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates, running the day-to-day affairs of the country.

Sheikh Khalifa was born in 1948 in Abu Dhabi, 23 years before the creation of the United Arab Emirates in 1971, he is the eldest son of Sheikh Zayed, the founder of the state. Prior to assuming the presidency, he was the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council, the highest energy decision-making body in the oil-rich emirate.

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