World leaders arrive in UAE to pay respects after death of president Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed
- French President Emmanuel Macron told new leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan in Abu Dhabi that the UAE could ‘count on France’s friendship’
- US President Joe Biden will be represented by Vice-President Kamala Harris, expected to visit on Monday
World leaders descended on the United Arab Emirates on Sunday to offer condolences to new leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan on the death of his half-brother Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed in a show of support to a key regional player.
Sheikh Mohammed, now ruler of wealthy Abu Dhabi emirate, steered the Western-allied Gulf state, an OPEC oil producer and regional business hub, for years before being named the UAE’s third president by a federal supreme council on Saturday.
French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country holds lucrative business and military ties with the UAE, told Sheikh Mohammed in Abu Dhabi that the UAE could “count on France’s friendship” and discussed the Ukraine conflict, the Elysee said.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said before heading to the Emirati capital that the establishment of ties between the UAE and Israel two years ago was an asset for the whole region built by “bold and groundbreaking leaders”, including Sheikh Khalifa.
The UAE, along with Bahrain, upended decades of Arab consensus by forging relations with Israel, creating a new anti-Iran axis in the region and drawing Palestinian ire.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas travelled to the UAE to offer his condolences while Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson was due to arrive in Abu Dhabi later on Sunday.
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani also visited and met Sheikh Mohammed, the Qatari Amiri Diwan said, in a first such a visit since 2017 when the UAE and Saudi Arabia imposed a boycott on Doha.