US embassy cable - 03ABUDHABI5134

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 005134 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/13 
TAGS: PGOV, PINR, TC 
SUBJECT:  SHAYKH ZAYED CLARIFIES UAE 
SUCCESSION WITH PROMOTION OF THIRD SON 
MOHAMMED AS ABU DHABI DEPUTY CROWN PRINCE 
 
 
(U) Classified by Richard A. Albright, Chargi 
d'Affaires, a.i., Reasons 1.5 (B) and (D). 
 
1. (C) UAE President Shaykh Zayed on November 30 
appointed his third eldest son, Armed Forces 
Chief of Staff LTG Shaykh Mohammed bin Zayed 
(MbZ), as Deputy Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi  The 
Emiri decree stated that MbZ would assume the 
position of Crown Prince once that position 
becomes vacant.  When Shaykh Zayed departs the 
scene, he will be succeeded by his eldest son, 
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Khalifa, with the 
consensus of the other emirates.  MbZ would then 
succeed Khalifa as Crown Prince.  With this 
decree, Shaykh Zayed has removed all doubt from 
the UAE succession and placed the Beni Fatima in 
the key positions of power. 
 
2. (C) MbZ's appointment confirms what has been 
widely believed all along, that Shaykh Mohammed 
would succeed CP Khalifa as Crown Prince when 
Khalifa succeeds their father.  Just as 
important, MbZ's appointment is further evidence 
of the consolidation of power by Zayed's six sons 
from his wife Fatima.  In October, Mohammed's 
younger brother Hamdan, the de facto Foreign 
Minister, was appointed Deputy Prime Minister, 
with the mandate for running the heretofore 
dysfunctional federal cabinet.  The other four 
brothers hold important portfolios: Abdallah 
(Information Minister), Hazza (Head of State 
Security), Tahnoun (Chairman of the President's 
Private Department, which looks after Shaykh 
Zayed's personal investments and foreign 
properties), and Mansour (Director General of the 
President's Office). 
 
3. (U) Biographic notes: According to information 
from the official UAE news agency, MbZ was born 
in 1961 and has been Chief of Staff of the Armed 
Forces since 1993.  He was promoted to the rank 
of Lieutenant General on January 24, 1994.  He 
was schooled in the UAE, and graduated from 
Sandhurst Military Academy in 1979.  He has held 
the rank of Commander of Air Forces and Air 
Defense, and Deputy Chief of Staff.  MbZ is also 
Shaykh Zayed's Advisor on National Security 
Affairs, a member of the Supreme Petroleum 
Council, and president of the UAE think tank, 
Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and 
Research (ECSSR).  He is married and has nine 
sons.  We know that he has daughters as well. 
ALBRIGHT