Abu Dhabi: Shaikh Mubarak, who was the right-hand man of the UAE's founder, Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, is widely credited with playing a vital role in the UAE's progress, in which he held office in key positions.
The late Shaikh also became the first minister of interior in the first UAE Federal Government.
Shaikh Mubarak is also considered one of the founding members of the Abu Dhabi Police Department, and was put at the helm of that department and the emirate's General Security in 1961.
Shaikh Mubarak was decorated with a number of honorary medals during his service and formed a public committee for police affairs. He became Major General on December 21, 1968, and served as minister of interior from 1971 to 1990.
Shaikh Mubarak was widely known for his defence of the role of women and for advocating their inclusion in the field of security. He developed a female police unit in 1978 and called for the unification of the police departments in the years that followed.
Shaikh Mubarak was also the first chairman of the UAE's football union from 1971-1973.
Politically, he played a pivotal role in the talks that took place between Their Highnesses the Rulers of the emirates in the prelude to the establishment of the UAE. He also erased all the border problems and complications between the seven emirates such as surveying cars and ID cards between one emirate and the next. In 1974 Shaikh Mubarak issued a decision lifting all the procedures used in Seeh Shuaib police station applied to cars and passengers to assert and emphasise the UAE's unity.
