Photos reveal Zayed's greatness as individual

Abu Dhabi: If you ask him to explain his 34 years' experience of filming the late Shaikh Zayed, the photographer would reply it was an encounter with a great human being.

Mohammad Mousa Al Khalidi, the photographer who accompanied Shaikh Zayed to major events at home and abroad from 1970 until his death in 2004, said it was a rare experience with a great human being.

He said this during the inauguration of a photo exhibition titled "Late Shaikh Zayed, official meetings in Geneva" at Zayed Centre under the Emirates Heritage Club at Al Bateen yesterday evening.

The exhibition, organised by the Swiss-Emirati Friendship Forum, displays the photographs of Shaikh Zayed taken by Al Khalidi and Jubara Yahya Jubara. Jubara was not present at the event. The exhibition under the patronage of Shaikh Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the chairman of Emirates Heritage Club, will continue in Abu Dhabi for a week and then will move to other Emirates in the country as well. In his message, Dr Shaikh Hazza Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, said cultural activities like the exhibition would build bridges with the rest of the world.

Al Khalidi, the photographer, said he had shot 54,000-hour-long video footage of Shaikh Zayed in 34 years and taken thousands of pictures.

Cooperative activities

Habib Al Sayegh, director-general of Sultan Bin Zayed Cultural and Media Centre, inaugurated the exhibition in the presence of Walter Steinmann, State Secretary, Swiss Ministry of Environment, Energy and Infrastructure.

Al Sayegh said the exhibition is part of the cooperative activities his centre is undertaking with foreign embassies and communities. He said such attempts to build bridges between different cultures would continue. Wolfgang Amadeus Bruelhart, Swiss Ambassador to the UAE, said the exhibition is part of 40th anniversary celebrations of relations between the UAE and Switzerland.

Relationship

Urs Stirnimam, Executive Director of the Emirati-Swiss Friendship Forum, said the photos depicted the special relationship Shaikh Zayed had with Switzerland and Geneva.

The exhibition includes some notable pictures of Shaikh Zayed with Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian leader. Shaikh Zayed is also shown sharing intimate moments with his sons.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, are also seen on Geneva streets in some pictures.