UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed

United Arab Emirates president dies at the age of 73, Emirati state news agency WAM reports.

Questions were raised during Sheikh 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. In 2003, he called for the creation of a new airline, Etihad Airways, which competes with Dubai’s successful and much larger carrier Emirates Air. 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 UAE saw none of the Arab Spring street protests that shook other parts of the region, though, in the wake of that unrest, Khalifa oversaw tightening crackdowns on opposition activists, drawing criticism from international rights groups. After independence in 1971, he became defence minister along with other roles and became president in 2004. He is expected to be succeeded as ruler of Abu Dhabi by Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed.

DUBAI, May 13 (Reuters) - United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has died, the Ministry of Presidential Affairs said on Friday.

He is expected to be succeeded as ruler of Abu Dhabi by Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed. “The Ministry of Presidential Affairs mourns to the UAE people, Arab and Islamic nations and the world the death of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who passed away on Friday,” the ministry said in a statement on state media without giving further details. DUBAI, May 13 (Reuters) - United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has died, the Ministry of Presidential Affairs said on Friday. He was also ruler of Abu Dhabi emirate.

Khalifa, who aligned the Gulf Arab state with the US and its allies, had rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2014.

“Sheikh Khalifa’s bold leadership contributed so much to the advancement of the UAE and its people and to the growing partnership between our countries and is a great legacy for his successors,” said Israeli President Isaac Herzog. MBZ is poised to become the new ruler of Abu Dhabi, which holds most of the UAE’s oil wealth and has held the presidency since the founding of the UAE federation by Khalifa’s father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, in 1971. Abu Dhabi — United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a pro-Western moderniser who had aligned the Gulf Arab state closer to the US and its allies, died on Friday.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates President whose modernization policies helped transform his country into a regional powerhouse, ...

The leader of the nation and the patron of its march, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, passed away to the Lord's side today, Friday, May 13," WAM said. Sheikh Khalifa's role had been largely ceremonial since he suffered a stroke and underwent surgery in 2014. "The Ministry of Presidential Affairs announces an official mourning and flags to be flown at half-mast for the late His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, may God have mercy on him, for a period of 40 days, starting today, and suspending work in ministries, departments, federal and local institutions, and the private sector for 3 days, starting today (Friday)," WAM said in a tweet.

The United Arab Emirates' President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan died aged 73 on Friday, state media said, after battling illness for several years.

"His stances, achievements, wisdom, generosity and initiatives are in every corner of the nation.. may God have mercy on you and grant you access to paradise." Sheikh Khalifa took over as the UAE's second president in November 2004, succeeding his father as the 16th ruler of Abu Dhabi, the richest of the federation's seven emirates.

A pro-Western moderniser, he was known for aligning the Gulf State closer to the US and its allies.

A pro-Western moderniser, he was known for aligning the Gulf State closer to the US and its allies. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called Sheikh Khalifa "as a true friend of the United States", adding that the US remains committed to its steadfast friendship and cooperation with the UAE. A pro-Western moderniser, he was known for aligning the Gulf State closer to the US and its allies.

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Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed was born in Abu Dhabi in September 1948. United Arab Emiriates (UAE) President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed has died at the age of 73. UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed has died at the age of 73.

The ascension of Sheikh Mohammed, 61, had been expected after the death Friday of his half-brother and the UAE's president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al ...

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Ministry of presidential affairs announces 40-day mourning period for ruler who succeeded father in 2004.

In 2003, he called for the creation of a new airline, Etihad Airways, which competes with Dubai’s successful and much larger carrier, Emirates Air. Abu Dhabi serves as home to the federal capital. He had long ceased having involvement in the day-to-day affairs of ruling the country.