Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 1997
President of the United Arab Emirates
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 November 2004
Prime Minister	Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Preceded by	Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Acting)
Personal details
Born	25 January 1948 Al Ain, Trucial States (now United Arab Emirates)
Spouse(s)	Shamsa bint Suhail Al Mazrouei
Religion	Islam

Al Nahyan family

HH Sheikha Hassa HH The President of the UAE HH Sheikha Shamsa HH Sheikh Sultan HH Sheikh Mohammed HH Sheikha Shamsa HH Sheikh Sultan HH Sheikha Shamsa HH Sheikha Fatima HH The Crown Prince HH Sheikh Hamdan HH Sheikh Hazza HH Sheikh Mansour HH Sheikh Abdullah mother/father: [[ Suliman bin Zayed Al Nahyan Uncles: HH Sheikh Saeed HH Sheikh Falah HH Sheikha Amna HH Sheikh Issa Sheikh Usamah bin Zayed al Nahyan

Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (Arabic: خليفة بن زايد بن سلطان آل نهيان‎; born 25 January 1948; referred to as Sheikh Khalifa) is the President of the United Arab Emirates, the Emir of Abu Dhabi and the commander of the Union Defence Force.^[1]

He succeeded to the position of the Emir of Abu Dhabi on November 2004 after the death of his father Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, thereby becoming the President of the Federation the next day. As Crown Prince, he had already been acting as president since the late 1990s while his father was in ill health. Khalifa is also chairman of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which manages over $600 billion in assets. The Al Nahyan family is believed to have a fortune of $150 billion collectively as a family.^[2]

Biography

Early life

Khalifa was born to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan and Sheikha Hassa bint Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi (then part of the Trucial States), on January 1948. He is the eldest son of Sheikh Zayed and is a graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

1966–1971

Khalifa was appointed as Ruler's Representative in the Eastern Region of Abu Dhabi (the mayor) and as Head of the Courts Department in Al Ain in 1966, as his father, Sheik Zayed, became the new ruler of Abu Dhabi. Zayed was the Ruler's Representative in the Eastern Region. A few months later the position was handed to Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan.^[3]

On 1 February 1969, Sheikh Khalifa was nominated as the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and on the next day he was appointed as the Head of the Abu Dhabi Department of Defense, in which post he oversaw the building up of the Abu Dhabi Defense Force, ADDF, which later became the nucleus of the UAE Armed Forces after 1971.

Independence in 1971

Following the establishment of the UAE in 1971, Sheikh Khalifa became the Prime Minister of Abu Dhabi (and head of Abu Dhabi Cabinet, under his father), Minister of Defense of Abu Dhabi and Minister of Finance of Abu Dhabi. Following the reconstruction of the Cabinet of the United Arab Emirates including the abolishing of Abu Dhabi Cabinet and setting up of Executive Council of Abu Dhabi, he became the 2nd Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates on 23 December 1973 and Chairman of Executive Council of Abu Dhabi on 20 January 1974, under his father.

In May 1976, he became deputy commander of the UAE armed forces, under the President. He also heads the Supreme Petroleum Council in the late 1980s (until today), which enjoys wide powers in energy matters. He was the chairman of the Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency, ERWDA.

Presidency (2004–present)

Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan with President of Russia Vladimir Putin on 10 September 2007.

He succeeded to both posts on 3 November 2004, replacing his father Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who had died the day before. He had effectively been acting president earlier, since his father was ill during the period prior to his passing.

On 1 December 2005, the President announced that half of the members of the Federal National Council, the closest body the country has to a parliament, will be indirectly elected. However, half of the council's members will still need to be appointed by the leaders of the emirates. The 40-member FNC serves in an advisory capacity. The elections were set to take place in December 2006.

Khalifa and U.S. President George W. Bush at Abu Dhabi International Airport, 13 January 2008

On 4 January 2010, the world's tallest man-made structure, originally known as Burj Dubai, was renamed to Burj Khalifa, in honor of the Sheikh.^[4]

In 2010, Khalifa was described in a WikiLeaks cable signed by the U.S. ambassador as a "distant and uncharismatic personage."^[5]

In March 2011 Khalifa sent the United Arab Emirates Air Force to support the military intervention in Libya against Muammar Gaddafi alongside NATO forces, Qatar, Sweden and Jordan.^[6][7]

Later that year Khalifa was ranked as the world's fourth-wealthiest monarch, with a fortune estimated to be worth about $15 billion.^[8] In 2013 he launched Azzam, the longest motor yacht ever built at 590 ft (180 m). Azzam cost between $400–600 million to build.^[9][10]

In January 2014 Khalifa suffered a stroke and was reported to have been in a stable condition after undergoing an operation.^[11]

Controversies

Seychellois government records show that since 1995 Khalifa has spent $2 million buying up more than 66 acres of land on the Seychelles' main island of Mahé, where his palace is being built. Since 1995, the Seychelles' government has received large aid packages from the UAE; the UAE has pledged more than $130 million in social service and military aid, including patrol boats for the Seychelles' antipiracy efforts. In 2008, the UAE came to the indebted Seychelles government's aid, with a $30 million injection.^[12]

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 environment, said the government did not tender the land because it wanted it to go to 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 construction workers building the palace, overflowed, sending rivers of waste through the region, 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. Government officials and residents say Ascon has offered to pay roughly $8,000 to each of the 360 households that the government says have been affected by the pollution.^[12]

In April 2016, Khalifa was named in the Panama Papers.^[13] The ICIJ has reported that Khalifa owns luxury properties in London worth more than $1.7 billion through a structure of some thirty shell companies Mossack Fonseca set up for him in the British Virgin Islands and administer for him.^[14]

See also

• List of current heads of state and government
• List of rulers of separate Emirates of the United Arab Emirates
• List of the richest royals
• Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
• Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
• Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan

References

1. "Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan". Forbes. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
2. Pendleton, Devon (11 March 2009). "The Gulf's Newest Billionaire". Forbes. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
3. Entrepreneur.com
4. "World's tallest building opens in Dubai". BBC News. 4 January 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
5. Coker, Margaret (29 November 2010). "Leaked Papers Show Arab Leaders Critical of Iran, Neighbors". The Wall Street Journal.
6. "UAE updates support to UN Resolution 1973". WAM. 25 March 2011. Archived from the original on 2016-04-06.
7. "Libya Live Blog – March 24". Al Jazeera. 24 March 2011. Archived from the original on 24 March 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
8. "The World's Richest Royals". Forbes. 29 April 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-10-06.
9. "Emirati royals knock Abramovich off top of yacht league". CNBC. 14 August 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
10. Daniel Fisher (5 April 2012). "German Shipyard Launches World's Largest Private Yacht At 591 Feet". Forbes. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
11. "Sheikh Khalifa's condition stable as he recovers from stroke". The National (Abu Dhabi). 25 January 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
12. Margaret, Coker (9 September 2010). "Sheikh Abode a Sore Point in Seychelles". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
13. "Panama Papers: The Power Players". International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
14. Adam Lusher (April 5, 2016). "Panama Papers: 12 world leaders linked to offshore dealings – and the full allegations against them". The Independent.

External links

• Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Biography of U.A.E. President