- Sheikh Mohammed names Sheikh Khaled as crown prince of Abu Dhabi.
- Prince brothers will be in prominent positions thus balancing the powers.
- Politically and economically stable country has also forged and realigned middle east with Sheikh Mohammed’s efforts.
Sheik Khaled son of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has been declared to be crowned prince of Abu Dhabi. Along with this Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has also named his brothers for top roles as per media news on Wednesday.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the president of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi since last year which is the capital of the oil-rich Gulf state named his brother Sheikh Mansour as vice president of UAE after running U.S. allied OPEC oil producer for years.
Known as political capital due to oil wealth among the seven emirates of UAE federation Abu Dhabi is now said to have centralised power after this move. While Dubai which is ruled by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum shall remain Gulf’s business and tourism hub.
UAE’s president has also further appointed his brother Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyanand Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan as national security advisor of UAE and deputy rulers of Abu Dhabi respectively.
According to Cinzia Bianco research fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations appointments of his brothers to prominent positions give a power-sharing balance but are restricted to the Al Nahyan clan.
The trend of Gulf monarchies to the direct lineage from brothers to sons for succession can be seen in this choice of Sheikh Khaled to be the crown prince’s decision. Sheikh Mohammed’s father found the UAE foundation in 1971 and since then the presidency remains with Abu Dhabi.
During Sheikh Mohammed’s presidency, the Middle East has been realigned by forged ties between Israel and Bahrain creating an anti-Iran axis in the region. The ties between Russia and China have also deepened through UAE and UAE has also been engaged in containing tensions with prioritising economic tensions.
A country having the highest world per capita income levels and home to millions of expatriate workers with a population of less than 10 million is also a politically and economically sound state.
The chosen crown prince Sheikh Khaled was also named Abu Dhabi’s executive council head, world’s wealthiest state investors and key entities in the emirates. Apart from him, the other brother Sheikh Tahoun was named Abu Dhabi’s Investment Authority’s chair and Sheikh Mansour was named as the Chairman of Abu Dhabi’s second-biggest sovereign wealth fund i.e. Mubadala.
