Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (b. September 7, 1948, Al-Ain, Trucial States [now United Arab Emirates] – d. May 13, 2022) was the President of the United Arab Emirates, the Emir of Abu Dhabi, and the supreme commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces from 2004 to 2022. He was also the Chairman of the Supreme Petroleum Council from the late 1980s.
As the crown prince, Khalifa carried out some aspects of the presidency in a de facto capacity from the late 1990s when his father Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan faced health problems. He succeeded his father as the emir of Abu Dhabi on November 2, 2004, and the presidency of the United Arab Emirates the following day.
During his reign, he was deemed one of the richest monarchs in the world. He controlled 97.8 billion barrels of oil reserves and was chairman of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which manages $875 billion in assets, the largest amount managed by a nation's head of state in the world. Collectively, the Al Nahyan family is believed to hold a fortune of $150 billion. On January 4, 2010, the world's tallest man-made structure, originally known as Burj Dubai, was renamed the Burj Khalifa in his honor, after Abu Dhabi gave Dubai $10 billion to help pay off debts. In 2018, Forbes named Khalifa in its list of the world's most powerful people.
In January 2014, Khalifa suffered a stroke but was in a stable condition. He then assumed a lower profile in state affairs but retained ceremonial presidential powers. His half-brother Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan carried out public affairs of the state and day-to-day decision-making of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Khalifa died on May 13, 2022.
Khalifa was born on September 7, 1948 at Qasr Al-Muwaiji, Al Ain, in Abu Dhabi (then part of the Trucial States), the eldest son of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. He was a graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
When his father, Zayed, became Emir of Abu Dhabi in 1966, Khalifa was appointed the Ruler's Representative (the mayor) in the Eastern region of Abu Dhabi and Head of the Courts Department in Al Ain. Zayed was the Ruler's Representative in the Eastern Region before he became the Emir of Abu Dhabi. A few months later the position was handed to Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan.
On February 1, 1969, Khalifa was nominated the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and on the next day he was appointed Head of the Abu Dhabi Department of Defense. In that post, he oversaw the build up of the Abu Dhabi Defense Force, which after 1971 became the core of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Armed Forces.
Following the establishment of the United Arab Emirates in 1971, Khalifa assumed several positions in Abu Dhabi: Prime Minister, head of the Abu Dhabi Cabinet (under his father), Minister of Defense, and Minister of Finance. After the reconstruction of the Cabinet of the United Arab Emirates, the Abu Dhabi Cabinet was replaced by the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, and Khalifa became the 2nd Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (December 23, 1973) and the Chairman of the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi (January 20, 1974), under his father.
In May 1976, Khalifa became deputy commander of the UAE Armed Forces under the President. He also became the head of the Supreme Petroleum Council in the late 1980s, and continued in this position until his death in 2022. The post granted him wide powers in energy matters.
Khalifa was the eldest son of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and Hassa bint Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan. Khalifa was married to Shamsa bint Suhail Al Mazrouei, and had eight children: Sultan, Mohammed, Shamma, Salama, Osha, Sheikha, Lateefa, and Mouza.
Khalifa succeeded to the posts of Emir of Abu Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on November 3, 2004, replacing his father Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who had died the day before. He had been acting president since his father became ill prior to his passing.
On December 1, 2005, the President announced that half of the members of the Federal National Council (FNC), an assembly that advises the president, would be indirectly elected. However, half of the council's members would still need to be appointed by the leaders of the emirates. The elections were set to take place in December 2006. In 2009, Khalifa was re-elected as President for a second five-year term.
During his presidency in February of 2022, the UAE signed partnership agreements with Israel on tourism and healthcare.
In March 2011, Khalifa sent the United Arab Emirates Air Force to support the military intervention in Libya against Muammar Gaddafi, alongside forces from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Qatar, Sweden, and Jordan.
Khalifa pledged the full support of the UAE to the Bahraini regime in the face of the pro-democracy uprising in 2011.
Later in 2011, Khalifa was ranked as the world's fourth-wealthiest monarch, with a fortune estimated to be worth $15 billion. In 2013, he commissioned Azzam, the longest motor yacht ever built at 590 ft (180 m) long, with costs between $400–600 million.
In the fall of 2011, the Emirates initiated a program to promote allegiance to Khalifa and other Emirati leaders. The program continues, and encourages not only Emirati nationals, but residents from any nationality to register their appreciation, recognition, and loyalty to the Emirs.
In January 2014, Khalifa suffered a stroke and was reported to have been in a stable condition after undergoing an operation.
The Seychelles' government records show that since 1995 Sheikh Khalifa had spent $2 million buying up more than 66 acres of land on the Seychelles' main island of Mahe, where what was to be his palace was being built. The Seychelles' government received large aid packages from the UAE, most notably a $130 million injection that was used in social service and military aid, which funded patrol boats for the Seychelles' anti-piracy efforts. In 2008, the UAE came to the indebted Seychelles government's aid, with a $30 million injection of funds.
Khalifa paid $500,000 for the 29.8-acre site of his palace in 2005, according to the sales document. A Seychelles planning authority initially rejected the palace's building plans, a decision overturned by President James Michel's cabinet. A month after the start of construction of the palace, the national utility company warned that the site's plans posed threats to the water supply. Joel Morgan, the Seychelles' minister of the environment, said the government did not tender the land because it wanted it to go to Sheikh Khalifa. Morgan said "the letter of the law" might not have been followed in the land sale.
In February 2010, the sewage system set up by Ascon, the company building the palace, for the site's construction workers overflowed, sending rivers of waste through the region, which are home to more than 8000 residents. Local government agencies and officials from Khalifa's office responded quickly to the problem, sending in technical experts and engineers. Government officials concluded that Ascon ignored health and building codes for their workers, and fined the company $81,000. Ascon blamed the incident on "unpredicted weather conditions". Khalifa's presidential office offered to pay $15 million to replace the water-piping system for the mountainside, and Seychelles' government representatives and residents say Ascon has offered to pay roughly $8,000 to each of the 360 households that were affected by the pollution.
Through the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, the UAE supported the Yemeni people in August 2015 with 3,000 tons of food and aid supplies. By August 19, 2015, the foundation had sent Yemen 7,800 tons of food, medicine, and medical supplies.
In April 2016, Khalifa was named in the Panama Papers by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Khalifa reportedly owned luxury properties in London worth more than $1.7 billion via shell companies that Mossack Fonseca set up and administers for him in the British Virgin Islands.
Khalifa died on May 13, 2022.
