Tributes pour in for Sheikh Ahmed

Tributes pour in for Sheikh Ahmed

Rulers, former colleagues and public pay respects to ‘humble and unpretentious’ royal. Events including the Abu Dhabi Festival cancelled during three-day mourning period.

March 31, 2010 10:56 by kippreport

Tributes from political leaders, colleagues and the public have poured in following the death of Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE president’s younger brother.

Three days of official mourning began today after Sheikh Ahmed’s body was found following a glider crash in Morocco.

Events such as the Abu Dhabi Festival 2010 have been cancelled as a mark of respect, and the final episode of Million’s Poet TV competition, which was scheduled for Wednesday, has been postponed.

The courts of the rulers of the other UAE emirates also declared a three-day period of mourning, and each expressed their condolences to Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi.

Other Arab leaders – Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Egyptian president Mohammed Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah – offered their condolences.

Sheikh Ahmed was managing director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the emirate’s largest sovereign wealth fund. Staff there praised his gentle manner. “For us, Sheikh Ahmed was very humble and unpretentious, highly accurate and realistic in organizing and planning,” said ADIA colleagues quoted by state news agency WAM.

Sheikh Ahmed was also known for his humanitarian and social work. He was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Zayed Foundation for Charity and Humanitarian Works. He volunteered for several humanitarian organizations in the UAE and overseas. He was also known for his passion for sports, falconry and other traditional sports.

Kippreport readers also offered their condolences to the late Sheikh Ahmed. One wrote: “He was taken from this world at a young age and that never seems fair. Sheikh Ahmed [was] one of the good guys who had the interests of the UAE at heart and did plenty of unseen charity work without expecting any personal glory for it. Rest in peace.”