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DUBAI: Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa of Bahrain, one of the world’s longest-serving prime ministers who led his island nation’s government for decades and survived the 2011 Arab Spring protests demanding his removal on charges of corruption, died on Wednesday. He was 84 years old.
Bahrain’s state news agency announced his death, saying he had been receiving treatment at the Mayo Clinic in the United States, without giving further details. The Mayo Clinic declined to comment.
The power and wealth of Prince Khalifa could be seen everywhere in this small nation off the coast of Saudi Arabia that is home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
His official portrait hung for decades on the walls alongside the country’s ruler. He had his own private island where he met foreign dignitaries, with a marina and park that had peacocks and gazelles roaming its grounds.
The prince represented an older style of Gulf leadership, one that bestowed patronage and favors for the support of the Sunni Al Khalifa family. That style would be challenged in the 2011 protests by the island’s Shiite majority and others, who spoke out against it over long-standing corruption allegations surrounding their government.
Though less powerful and more fragile in recent years, his machinations still attracted attention in the realm as a new generation now fights for power.
“Khalifa bin Salman represented the old guard in more ways than just age and seniority,” said Kristin Smith Diwan, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Gulf Arab States Institute.
“It represented an ancient social understanding rooted in royal privilege and expressed through personal patronage.”
The Royal Court of Bahrain announced a week of official mourning, with a burial after the return of his body. State television broadcast a recitation of Koranic verses, showing a black and white image of the prince.
Late on Wednesday, Bahrain’s state news agency initially announced that Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa would head the Council of Ministers, usually the job of the island’s prime minister.
He later updated his report to directly appoint the crown prince as prime minister, becoming the country’s second prime minister since independence in 1971.
The crown prince had been trying to strip Prince Khalifa of control of Bahrain’s economy for years before, with the apparent approval of his father, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
Prince Khalifa was born into the Al Khalifa dynasty that for more than two centuries has ruled Bahrain, an island in the Persian Gulf whose name in Arabic means “the two seas.”
The son of Bahrain’s former ruler, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who ruled from 1942 to 1961, the prince learned to rule alongside his father, as the island remained a British protectorate.
Prince Khalifa’s brother, Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, assumed power in 1961 and served as monarch when Bahrain gained its independence from Great Britain in 1971. Under an informal arrangement, Sheikh Isa undertook the diplomacy and the ceremonial duties of the island while Prince Khalifa directed the government and economy.
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