Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Bahrain prime minister, died at 84. He is one of the longest-serving officials in Bahrain and charged with corruption during the Arab Spring.
According to the Bahrain news agency, he has been getting treatment at the Mayo Clinic in the US. When reached for a comment, the Mayo Clinic declined to respond to the inquiry.
The wealth and power of Prince Khalifa in Bahrain lay off the coast of Saudi Arabia and is where the US navy's 5th fleet is docked in the middle east. A portrait of Khalifa is among the images of its rulers. A private island is owned by him where he met foreign dignitaries, complete with a marina, a park that had peacocks and gazelle roam its grounds, reported MSN.
His leadership is of an older style that allowed patronage and gave support to the Sunni Al-Khalifa family. In 2011, the protest rang as the Shiites and other groups have said the prince is corrupt. They repudiated his rule but failed any headway in getting him out of power, noted AP News.
In his older years, his former grip on the state lessened, and policies still drive the country as others are now angling for the reins of government.
According to Kristin Smith Diwan, a senior resident scholar at the Washington-based Arab Gulf States Institute, the prime minister is a part of an older generation held onto power rooted in tradition. Quoting Kristin Smith Diwan," "He represented an old social understanding rooted in royal privilege and expressed through personal patronage."
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The Prince is part of the Al Khalifa Dynasty, its eminent rulers for 200 years. Bahrain is an island in the Persian Gulf, whose Arabic translation means two seas. His father is Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the former ruler whose reign lasted from 1942 until 1961. Prince Khalifa learns how to govern by his father's side when it was considered a protectorate of Britain, Star Tribune.
After his father, Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, his elder brother was the ruler from 1961 until Britain's independence in 1971. When the island of Bahrain became independent, Sheikh Isa did the diplomacy part, and other duties and Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa was tasked with governance and economy.
Bahrain developed and flourished under Prince Khalifa, who steered the Middle Eastern nation's economic development from relying on oil. From an oil-dependent island, Dubai became the financial, service, and offer hedonistic tourism that Saudi Arabia cannot provide, Al Jazeera.
One of Bahrain's prosperity's key reasons is the King Fahd Causeway in 1986, which gave it a direct link to the immensely oil-rich Saudis. Saudi rulers and their affluent were more than willing to spend top-dollar in the Island enclave. Full of western delights which are not allowed in Saudi Arabia.
Prince Khalifa would be alleged in corruption and has access to state-owned enterprises' earnings. This is what made demonstrators want to oust him when they clogged the capital Manama's Pearl Roundabout for changes.
Dubai Prime minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has been part of the historical rise of Bahrain, but undercurrents underline its prosperity bolstered by the long-ruling prime minister.
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