Qatar has announced three days of national mourning after the former Emir Khalifa bin Hamad Al-Thani, who was deposed in a palace coup, died aged 84.
- During his time as leader from 1972 to 1995, he oversaw the transformation of modern-day Qatar into an energy-rich country — where the phenomenal wealth from gas an oil exports transformed the tiny Gulf state.
- Khalifa ruled Qatar until he was deposed by his son Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani in a bloodless coup while on holiday in Switzerland.
- He was one of the first rulers of Qatar after it gained independence from Britain in 1971, taking over power from a cousin, and was also seen as a founding father of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the political and economic union incorporating six states in the region.
Do you know?
- Qatar officially the State of Qatar is a sovereign country located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.
- Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Persian Gulf.
- A strait in the Persian Gulf separates Qatar from the nearby island country of Bahrain, as well as sharing maritime borders with the United Arab Emirates and Iran.
- Qatar is a high income economy and is a developed country, backed by the world’s third largest natural gas reserves and oil reserves.
- Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, becoming the first Arab country to do so.
- Capital: Doha
- Currency: Qatari riyal
- Prime Minister : Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani
- President: Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani
