Man of The Nation

SHEIKH ZAYED BIN SULTAN AL NAHYAN ON 2 NOVEMBER 2004, HIS HIGHNESS SHEIKH ZAYED BIN SULTAN AL NAHYAN, President of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, died. He was in his late eighties and had been Ruler of Abu Dhabi since 1966, and UAE President since the formation of the Federation on 2 December 1971. He was succeeded as Ruler of Abu Dhabi by his eldest son and Crown Prince, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who, on 3 November, was also elected unanimously by the Supreme Council of Rulers of the UAE as the country’s second President. Sheikh Zayed had been involved in government since 1946, when he became the Representative of the Ruler of Abu Dhabi in the Eastern Region of the emirate, and, upon becoming Ruler in 1966, he took the initiatives that led to the formation of the seven-member UAE Federation five years later. For the citizens of the Emirates, the vast majority of whom were too young to recall any other leader, he was not merely a President and Ruler, but he was also like a father. His passing prompted, as was to be expected, an outpouring of grief throughout the country, both among citizens and amongst the UAE’s large expatriate population, many of whom have lived much or all of their lives in the Emirates. President Sheikh Zayed, however, was not merely a national leader, but a widely-respected Arab and world statesman, as was shown by the fact that many Kings and Heads of State, Crown Princes, Prime Ministers and other senior government figures from around the globe flew in to attend his funeral or to pay their condolences to his successor. Among them were representatives not only from the Arab world, such as the Kings of Bahrain and Jordan, the Sultan of Oman, the Emir of Qatar, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and the Presidents of Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan and Algeria, but also from Asia, including the Presidents of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and from Europe, including the President of France and Britain’s Prince Charles, Africa and the Americas. He also received the rare tribute of a special motion of condolences in Britain’s House of Commons. Obituaries in some of the world’s leading newspapers, such as The New York Times and The Times, as well as the many messages of condolence received by President Sheikh Khalifa, from world figures such as Britain’s Queen, the US and French presidents, the Emperor of Japan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations and numerous other monarchs, presidents and prime ministers, paid credit both to his achievements in developing the United Arab Emirates into a stable, modern and tolerant state, through a sagacious use of the country’s oil and gas revenues, but also to his wisdom in international affairs, holding fast to his own basic principles, while seeking to promote conciliation and peace-making wherever the opportunity arose. Thus Britain’s Queen Elizabeth expressed her condolences to President Sheikh Khalifa ‘on the death of your distinguished father . . . who served your country with such dedication and dignity over many years. I am sure that the prosperity of the UAE today will be widely seen as a testimony to Sheikh Zayed’s wisdom, skill and devotion to the service of the state’. US President George W. Bush commented: ‘The United States mourns the passing of a great friend of our country . . . Sheikh Zayed was . . . a pioneer, an elder statesman and a close ally. He and his fellow rulers built their federation into a prosperous, tolerant and well-governed state’. France’s President Jacques Chirac, expressing ‘deep sorrow and emotion’, described Sheikh Zayed as ‘a man of peace and vision’. In a message to Sheikh Khalifa, he added: ‘The work accomplished by Sheikh Zayed is huge . . . Man of peace and vision, he kept promoting the virtues of compromise, reason and dialogue in a region troubled by crises and conflicts. His name will remain closely associated with the cause of peace and development in the Middle East to which he devoted his life’. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted in a statement that Sheikh Zayed had ‘devoted tireless efforts to building the state and nation and, in so doing, earned the respect of the population for his wisdom, generosity and his achievements in building a prosperous economy. Sheikh Zayed’s wisdom, strong belief in diplomacy and generous assistance to developing countries also won him wide renown outside his own country – in the Islamic world and even further afield. And he was a friend of the United Nations, who always sought to strengthen relations between the Organisation and his country’. He was honoured in a special commemorative session of the UN General Assembly, a rare mark of appreciation. Insofar as it was possible to detect a single thread running through the statements and messages, as well as through the response of UAE residents, it was that the life and achievements of President Sheikh Zayed were characterised by his deep religious faith, his vision, his determination and hard work, his generosity, both at home and abroad, and the way in which he devoted his life to the service of his people and to the pursuit, at home and elsewhere, to helping those in need and to the creation of a better world. The United Arab Emirates today is his memorial – not just the physical infrastructure but, more importantly, its people – while the international response to his passing is testimony to the way in which he gave to his country a voice listened to, with respect, around the world. In a statement on the election of Sheikh Khalifa as the new President, the members of the UAE Supreme Council noted their ‘keen desire to be loyal to the principles of leadership and the values of justice and right laid down by His Highness Sheikh Zayed’ and pledged to follow his path. In their view, such is the best way of honouring his memory. Born around 1918 in Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed was the youngest of the four sons of Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler of Abu Dhabi from 1922 to 1926. He was named after his grandfather, Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa, who ruled the emirate from 1855 to 1909, the longest reign in the three and a half centuries since the Al Nahyan family emerged as leaders of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi, like the other emirates of the southern Arabian Gulf formerly known as the Trucial States, was then in treaty relations with Britain. At the time Sheikh Zayed was born, the emirate was poor and undeveloped, with an economy based primarily on fishing and pearl diving along the coast and offshore and on simple agriculture in scattered oases inland. Part of the population was nomadic, ranging across a wide area of south-eastern Arabia in search of pasture. Life, even for members of the ruling family, was simple. Education was generally confined to lessons in reading and writing, along with instruction in Islam from the local preacher, while modern facilities such as roads, communications and health care were conspicuous only by their absence. Transport was by camel or boat, and the harshness of the arid climate meant that survival itself was often a major concern. In early 1928, following the death of Sheikh Sultan’s successor, his brother Sheikh Saqr, a family conclave selected as Ruler Sheikh Shakhbut, Sheikh Sultan’s eldest son. He was to hold the post until August 1966, when he stepped down in favour of his brother Zayed. Throughout the late 1920s and 1930s, as Sheikh Zayed grew to manhood, he displayed an early thirst for knowledge that took him out into the desert with the bedu tribesmen to learn all he could about the way of life of the people and the environment in which they lived. He later recalled with pleasure his experience of desert life and his initiation into the sport of falconry, which became a lifelong passion. (( coming soon ! ))