DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (AP) – Rulers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced yesterday that they unanimously appointed Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the president of the hereditarily ruled nation on the Arabian Peninsula.
The state-run WAM news agency said the rulers of the country’s seven sheikhdoms made the decision at a meeting held in Al Mushrif Palace in Abu Dhabi.
It comes after President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan died on Friday at age 73. The transition of power marks only the third time the United States- (US) allied nation of seven sheikhdoms has selected a president since becoming an independent nation in 1971.
The last, which saw Sheikh Khalifa take over for both his and Sheikh Mohammed’s father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, came a month after his death in 2004.
The speed of yesterday’s announcement, just a day after Sheikh Khalifa’s death, appeared designed to show unity and reassure the world of the stability of this crucial oil-and-gas producing nation that hosts Western military forces.
WAM described the vote as unanimous among the rulers of the country’s sheikhdoms, which also includes the skyscraper-studded city of Dubai.
“We congratulate him, and we pledge allegiance to him, and our people pledge allegiance to him,” Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said on Twitter after the vote. “The whole country is led by him to take it on the paths of glory and honour, God willing.”
The UAE as a whole is observing a three-day mourning period which will see businesses shut across the country and performances halted in Sheikh Khalifa’s honour. Electronic billboards all showed the late sheikh’s image in Dubai on Friday night as flags flew at half-staff.
Sheikh Mohammed, 61, had been serving as the UAE’s de facto president since a 2014 stroke saw his half-brother Sheikh Khalifa disappear from public view.
