Triumphant return for UAE leader

Officials insist the president is fully recovered

By Gulf correspondent Julia Wheeler

The president of the United Arab Emirates is due to return to the country on Sunday after transplant surgery in the United States.

Sheikh Zayed, 86, is the first and only president of the UAE and is seen by his people as the father of the nation.

Celebrations for his return have been planned ever since he had his kidney transplant in August.

He will fly into the capital, Abu Dhabi, amid much pomp and ceremony. Officials say it is as though the whole country will be there to greet him.

Preparations

The streets of the city have been decorated with giant portraits of the president as well as flowers and thousands of lights.

Local companies have distributed Sheikh Zayed badges to their staff, many cars driven by UAE nationals have large stickers emblazoned with his image and the red, white, black and green national flag is flying from lamp-posts across the country.

In the run-up to the president's return, prisoners have been pardoned and freed, widows have been given a gift of over $5,000 in celebration of his recovery and schools and colleges have been holding parties.

Founding father

The homecoming coincides with the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Monday and the country's 29th national day next week.

Ironically, it is partly because of the expected warmth of the welcome, and the inevitable strain that creates, that Sheikh Zayed has recuperated from his operation abroad for so long.

But officials are at pains to point out that the 86-year-old leader is now healthy and fully recovered.

UAE nationals and many long-term expatriates find it difficult and unnerving to imagine the country without its most influential founding father.