Who is UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan?

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has been appointed the new president of the United Arab Emirates on Saturday. He would succeed outgoing President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who died in office on Friday. Federal Supreme Council appointed the 60-year-old leader as the UAE’s new president.

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Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is colloquially known by his initials as MBZ. He is the third president of the Arabian country. By virtue of his position as the president of the UAE, he is also the ruler of Abu Dhabi and the Supreme Commander of the UAE’s armed forces. 

Zayed Al Nahyan is also seen as the driving force behind the UAE’s interventionist foreign policy and is a leader of a campaign against Islamist movements in the Arabian peninsula.

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In 2019, he was named the most powerful Arab ruler and one of the most powerful men on Earth by the New York Times. He was also named as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2019 by TIME magazine.

On Thursday, Zayed Al Nahyan became the ruler of Abu Dhabi and the very next day, he was appointed as the president of the UAE. 

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Born on March 11, 1961, Zayed Al Nahyan is the third son of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi, and his third wife, Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Al Ketbi.

He did his education at the Royal Academy in Rabat, where King Mohammed VI of Morocco was his classmate. Zayed Al Nahyan’s father sent him to Morocco with the aim to make him a disciplinarian. He gave him a passport showing a different last name so that he would not be treated like royalty. Zayed Al Nahyan spent several months working as a waiter in a local restaurant. He made his own meals and did his own laundry, and was often lonely. He described his life back then by saying “There would be a bowl of tabbouleh in the fridge, and I would keep eating from it day after day until a kind of fungus formed on the top”.

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After further schooling at Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, Zayed Al Nahyan was inducted into the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. 

In 2003, his father appointed him as Deputy Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. Upon his father’s death, he became the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. 

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He has now succeeded his elder brother Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed as the president of the UAE.