Khalifa was the eldest son of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first president of the United Arab Emirates. As crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Khalifa carried out some aspects of the presidency in a de facto capacity from the late 1990s when his father experienced health problems.[6] He succeeded his father as the ruler of Abu Dhabi on 2 November 2004, and the Federal Supreme Council elected him as president of the UAE the following day. As ruler of Abu Dhabi, he attracted cultural and academic centres to Abu Dhabi, helping establish the Louvre Abu Dhabi, New York University Abu Dhabi and Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi. He also established Etihad Airways.[7]
During Khalifa's presidency, the United Arab Emirates became a regional economic powerhouse and its non-oil economy grew.[8][7] Khalifa was viewed as a pro-Western modernizer whose low-key approach helped steer the country through a tense era in regional politics and forged closer ties with the United States and Israel.[9] As president during the financial crisis of 2007–2008, he directed the payment of billions of dollars in emergency bailout funds into Dubai.[7] On 4 January 2010, the world's tallest man-made structure, originally known as Burj Dubai, was renamed the Burj Khalifa in his honor.[10]
In January 2014, Khalifa had a stroke and was in stable condition after surgery.[11] He then assumed a lower profile in state affairs but retained ceremonial presidential powers. His half-brother Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan carried out public affairs of the state and day-to-day decision-making of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.[12] In 2018, Forbes named Khalifa in its list of the world's most powerful people.[13] Following his death on May 13, 2022, Khalifa was succeeded by his brother Mohamed.
As ruler's representative and crown prince: 1966–1971[edit]
When his father, Zayed, became emir of Abu Dhabi in 1966, Khalifa was appointed the ruler's representative in the Eastern Region of Abu Dhabi and head of the Courts Department in Al Ain.[17] 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.[18]
On 1 February 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 Defence. In that post, he oversaw the build up of the Abu Dhabi Defense Force, which after 1971 became the core of the UAE Armed Forces.[6]
In May 1976, he became deputy commander of the UAE Armed Forces, under the president.[21] He also became the head of the Supreme Petroleum Council in the late 1980s. The post granted him wide powers in energy matters.[22] He was also the chairman of the Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency.[23]
He succeeded to the post of emir of Abu Dhabi and was elected president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on 3 November 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 death.[6]
On 1 December 2005, Khalifa announced that half of the members of the Federal National Council (FNC), an assembly that advises the president, would be indirectly elected. Half of the council's members were still appointed by the leaders of the emirates.[24]
In 2009, Khalifa was re-elected as president for a second five-year term.[25]
Khalifa and U.S. President George W. Bush at Abu Dhabi International Airport, 13 January 2008
In 2010, Khalifa was described in a WikiLeaks cable signed by then U.S. ambassadorRichard G. Olson as a "distant and uncharismatic personage."[26] The cable said that Khalifa had risked his reputation and the UAE's future since 1990, when he described the United States as willing to shed blood to maintain international order and stability in the Gulf.
Khalifa pledged the full support of the UAE to the Bahrain in the face of pro-democracy uprising in 2011.[29]
Later that year Khalifa was ranked as the world's fourth-wealthiest monarch, with a fortune estimated to be worth $15 billion.[30] In 2013, he commissioned Azzam, the longest motor yacht ever built and measuring 590 ft (180 m) long, with a cost between $400–600 million.[31][32]
In January 2014, Khalifa had a stroke and was reported to have been in a stable condition after undergoing an operation. He was rarely seen in public after, and, with his health deteriorating, his brother, the crown prince, took over as the de facto ruler.[11]
Seychellois government records show that, between 1995 and 2010, Sheikh Khalifa had spent $2 million buying up more than 66 acres of land on the Seychelles' main island of Mahé, where what was to be his palace was being built.[37] The Seychelles' government has 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.[37]
Sheikh 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.[37] 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.[37]
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 is home to more than 8000 residents.[37] 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".[37] 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.[37]
Through the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, the UAE supported the Yemeni people in August 2015 with 3,000 tonnes of food and aid supplies.[38] By 19 August 2015, the foundation had sent Yemen 7,800 tonnes of food, medicine, and medical supplies.[38][39][40]
Sheikh Khalifa died on 13 May 2022, at the age of 73.[43][44] He was buried at Al Bateen Cemetery in Abu Dhabi.[45] His half-brother Mohamed succeeded him as ruler of Abu Dhabi upon his death,[46] and was elected as president of the UAE the next day.[47]
The Ministry of Presidential Affairs announced a 40-day national mourning with flags at half-mast along with a three-day suspension of work in private firms and the official entities at the federal and local levels of institution.[48] State mourning was also announced in many other Arab League nations. Bahrain,[49] Lebanon,[50] Oman,[51] Mauritania,[52] Qatar,[53] Egypt,[54] Morocco,[55] Maldives[56] declared official mourning and flags at half-mast for three days. In Jordan, mourning was declared for 40 days[57] while flags flew at half-mast in Kuwait.[58] Saudi Arabia declared three days of mourning with all recreational, sporting events and festivities postponed.[59] Pakistan announced a three-day mourning and flags were raised at half-mast.[60][61] Brazil declared three days of mourning,[62][63] Algeria declared two days of mourning with flags to be flown at half-mast.[64][65] Palestine declared a day of mourning and ordered flags to be flown at half-mast.[66] India also declared a period of national mourning with flags at half-staff for one day starting from 14 May 2022.[67][68] Bangladesh declared one day of state mourning on Saturday.[69] Cuba declared one day of mourning on 17 May.[70][71]
