PortraitMohammed Ben Zayed Al-Nahyane is not only the political leader of the United Arab Emirates. His influence and friendships extend far beyond the Arabian Peninsula, to the United States and France.
He’s a court legend. We must take it for what it is: a pretty fable about the king that we whisper under the seal of secrecy, hoping that it will be brought to the greatest number to edify the masses. At the time of his splendor, Sheikh Zayed Ben Sultan Al-Nahyane, charismatic founder of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), liked to summon his sons on Friday to talk about the kingdom and the art of governing. During these meetings, the patriarch, born before the oil miracle in the crude universe of the Bedouin of the desert, used to turn off the air conditioning. It’s a way of reminding your kids where they came from and instilling in them the need to work hard to prepare for the future, because the benefits of oil will not last forever.
Mohammed Ben Zayed Al-Nahyane, 59, learned the lesson. The third son of Sheikh Zayed presides over the destinies of one of the richest and most stable countries on the planet, a rosary of seven principalities (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Chardja, Ajman, Umm Al-Qaïwaïn, Ras Al-Khaïma, Foujayra) nestled in the hollows of the Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf. On paper, he is only the crown prince and minister of defense of the emirate capital, Abu Dhabi, a city cut to pieces, which exudes order and discipline. But in reality, "MBZ" as it is known, is the strong man of the UAE federation. A great lord with an austere appearance and an eaglebeak profile, whose taste for shadow hides an iron will and an insatiable appetite for power.
He is the designer, along with his number one ally, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman, aka "MBS", of the war against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, presented as the Trojan horse of Iran. The two men are also behind the blockade of Qatar, the neighboring UAE peninsula, in 2017, accused of guilty dealings with the Islamists. In solo, "MBZ" sponsored, in Egypt, the ascent of Marshal-President Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi, gravedigger of the 2011 revolution. And he actively supports the ambitions of another brazen, the Libyan Khalifa Haftar, in war against the government of Tripoli, yet recognized by the international community.
Its troops operate from Afghanistan to Yemen. Its diplomats and lobbyists roam the capitals. The Emirati ambassador to the United States even attended, at the end of January, the presentation of the famous Trump plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an indication of the rapprochement of the petro-monarchies of the Gulf with the Hebrew state. The regent of Abu Dhabi is also present in Africa, where his web is spreading day by day: arms in Libya, ports in the Horn, capital in Mauritania, Senegal, Botswana and Madagascar. Its tentacles go all the way to Trump Tower, the New York stronghold of the billionaire president, where he is said to have considerable influence.
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