The president of the United Arab Emirates, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has died at the age of 73, the official Emirati news agency WAM announced on Friday.
The Emirati government has announced an official mourning period of 40 days throughout the country that will begin with the suspension, for three days, of activities in public and private institutions starting this Friday.
Al Zayed, president of the Emirates since November 3, 2004, suffered a stroke in 2014 that led him to assume a lower profile in state affairs from that moment and to hand over his executive powers — although he kept the ceremonial ones — to his stepbrother and current ‘de facto’ leader of the country, Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Mohamed bin Zayed is expected to formally assume the presidency of the Emirates after the death of his half-brother.
According to Forbes magazine, he is one of the richest men in the world; his fortune would amount to 18,000 million dollars, ranking third in the list of the richest rulers in the world.
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