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ABU DHABI (AFP) - Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan, the president and founding father of the United Arab Emirates, one of the richest countries in the world, died.
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"The president's office mourns with the people of the United Arab Emirates and the Arab and Islamic nations the leader of the nation and president... His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan, who passed away on Tuesday evening, November 2," his office announced.
Television across the Emirates cut into normal programming to air verses from the Koran, the Muslim holy book, after the brief announcement carried by the official media.
The ailing Sheikh Zayed, who was in his late 80s, had governed the seven-member oil-rich OPEC (news - web sites) member since its birth in 1971 and was genuinely loved by his people.
His death came a day after the announcement of the first cabinet reshuffle in the desert country in seven years.
Zayed's heir apparent is his eldest son and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan.
Born "around 1918" according to official documents, the UAE leader had his share of health problems over the past few years, undergoing neck surgery in 1996 and a kidney transplant four years later.
He was one of a number of ailing rulers in the oil-rich Gulf monarchies where power remains the preserve of royal families.
Sheikh Zayed, who was genuinely loved by his people for using oil money to turn his desert country green, played a key part in creating the UAE on December 2, 1971 following Britain's pullout from the Gulf.
That was five years after he had been proclaimed ruler of Abu Dhabi, which became the wealthiest emirate of the federation and accounts for some 80 percent of the UAE's oil production, currently standing at about 2.5 million barrels a day.
The oil boom enjoyed by Abu Dhabi spread through the six other emirates after their rulers chose Sheikh Zayed as the first head of the UAE federation in 1971.
His first five-year mandate was systematically renewed since.
Analysts said Monday's cabinet reshuffle, which brought in a new energy minister and a woman into government for the first time, had been in the works for months and signalled that times were changing in the UAE.
"It has been cooking for some time," a source close to government circles told AFP.
The reshuffle saw the naming of Mohammad bin Dhaen al-Hamli -- an oil industry veteran who sits on the UAE's Supreme Petroleum Council-- as a new energy minister.
It also saw Sheikha Lubna al-Qassemi, a US-educated businesswoman, take over as economy and planning minister, the first woman to hold a ministerial post in the Gulf federation.
"It is a profound and sensible change... providing evidence of a long-term strategy, mainly in economic planning," said an Abu Dhabi-based Western diplomat ahead of the announcement of Zayed's death.
The cabinet resuffle made the UAE the first member of the Gulf Cooperation Council to put a minister in charge of GCC affairs at a time when the six-member bloc is trying to move toward economic integration.
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