United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has died, state news agency WAM reported on Friday. He was also ruler of Abu Dhabi emirate.
According to the constitution, vice-president and premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, would serve as president until the federal council of the seven emirates meets within 30 days to pick a new president.
Khalifa, who was born in 1948, became the ruler of the richest emirate in the world, Abu Dhabi, in 2004. His half-brother Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan is anticipated to succeed him as ruler of Abu Dhabi.
Mohammed bin Zayed has been the de facto ruler of the US-allied UAE, especially since Khalifa suffered a stroke in 2014 and has been seldom seen in public since.
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