Bangladesh announces state mourning on Saturday for UAE President Sheikh Khalifa

The Bangladesh government has announced a day of state mourning on Saturday for Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi.

The national flag will fly half-mast at government, semi-government and autonomous organisations, educational institutions, government and private buildings, and the Bangladesh missions abroad.

Special prayers will also be held in mosques and other places of worship across the country, the Cabinet Division said on Friday, hours after the UAE Ministry of Presidential Affairs announced Khalifa’s death.

Khalifa, born in 1948, had rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2014. Funeral prayers will be held on Friday, state news agency WAM said.

President Abdul Hamid in a statement mourning Khalifa said Bangladesh lost a “tested and true friend” in his death, remembering the role he played in developing bilateral ties.