UAE President: Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan becomes UAE President

The state-run WAM news agency said the decision was made by the rulers of the country’s seven emirates at a meeting at the Mushrif Palace in Abu Dhabi.

it is after the late president Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Died Friday at the age of 73. The transition of power marks the third time the seven emirates have chosen a president since the seven emirates became an independent nation.

The last was Sheikh Khalifa to succeed him and Sheikh Mohammed’s father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, after his death in 2004 a month later. The pace announced on Saturday, just a day after Sheikh Khalifa’s death, appeared to be aimed at showing solidarity to the world and assuring the world of stability in a major oil and gas producer with a Western military.

WAM described the vote as a unanimous vote by the rulers of the country’s emirate, which also includes the skyscraper-filled city of Dubai.

“We congratulate him, we pledge our allegiance to him, our people pledge allegiance to him,” Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said on Twitter after the vote. “He leads the whole nation in the way of glory and honor, God willing.”

this United Arab Emirates Overall, a three-day mourning period is being observed, when businesses across the country will close and performances for Sheikh Khalifa will cease. Electronic billboards showed images of the late sheikh in Dubai as the flag flew at half-staff on Friday night.

Sheikh Mohammed, 61, has been the UAE’s de facto president since a stroke in 2014, and his half-brother Sheikh Khalifa has disappeared from public view. Under his leadership, the UAE took a more military-focused approach to the region, joining Saudi Arabia in its bloody, years-long war in Yemen that still rages today.

Sheikh Mohammed, who has also long been skeptical of the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran, may have organized a campaign against Emirati Islamists after the 2011 Arab Spring and urged the West to take a tougher stance on Tehran as they Concerns about its nuclear program and its support for Iran. Paramilitary groups throughout the region.

Since the coronavirus pandemic, however, the UAE under Sheikh Mohammed has sought to restore ties with Iran and Turkey, which support Islamists in the region.