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World’s longest-serving prime minister, Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa of Bahrain, dies at 84 after 50 years on job
- Prince Khalifa’s power and wealth could be seen everywhere in the small nation off the coast of Saudi Arabia that is home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet
- He survived the 2011 Arab spring protests that demanded his ousting over corruption allegations, but died on Wednesday at a clinic in the US
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Associated Pressin Dubai
Bahrain’s Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the world’s longest-serving prime minister who had held the post since independence in 1971 and survived the 2011 Arab spring protests that demanded his ousting over corruption allegations, died on Wednesday. He was 84.
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Bahrain’s state-run news agency announced his death, saying he had been receiving treatment at the Mayo Clinic in the United States, without elaborating.
Prince Khalifa’s power and wealth could be seen everywhere in the small nation off the coast of Saudi Arabia that is home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet. His official portrait hung for decades on walls alongside the country’s ruler. He had his own private island where he met foreign dignitaries, complete with a marina and a park that had peacocks and gazelle roam its grounds.
The prince represented an older style of Gulf leadership, one that granted patronage and favours for 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 demonstrated against him over long-running corruption allegations surrounding his rule.
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Though less powerful and frailer in recent years, his machinations still drew attention in the kingdom as a new generation now jostles for power.
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