Special to WorldTribune.com

ABU DHABI — Qatar has announced a change in the regime of the Gulf
Cooperation Council emirate.

Qatar Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani said he would step down and hand
over power to his son, Crown Prince Tamim.

Under Hamad, who overthrew his father in a bloodless coup in 1995, Qatar
became the leading supporter of Islamist revolts in the Middle East. Over
the last two years, Qatar is said to have financed the Islamists in wars in
Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunisia.

In a seven-minute televised address on June 25, the 61-year-old emir said he had decided to allow the next generation to rule Qatar, ranked the richest country in the world.

“Our young men have proven over the past years that they are a people of resolve and fortitude, capable of accommodating the spirit of their time, realizing its necessities fully and profoundly, coping with its newest, and above all contributing by their original thinking and creative initiatives,” the emir said.

The emir’s announcement had been expected. Over the last month, Qatar told several allies, including the United States, of plans for Tamim to succeed his father.

The 33-year-old Tamim has long been influential in Qatar. For the last
five years, the crown prince was regarded as the architect of Qatar’s
military and security strategy, including the decision to modernize the
military with U.S.-origin aircraft and missile defense systems.

“I will hand over the reins of power to Sheik Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani,”
the emir said. “And I am fully certain that he is up to the
responsibility — deserving the confidence, capable of shouldering the
responsibility and fulfilling the mission.”

Arab diplomatic sources said Tamim was expected to reshuffle the Cabinet
and retire his influential older cousin, Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jassim Al
Thani. But they said the emir was expected to remain a strong force in
strategic decisions.

“Tamim will have his father and mother breathing down his neck,” a
diplomat said. “Maybe in a few years, he [Tamim] will be his own man, but
not now.”

  Crown Prince Tamim, Emir of Qatar stepping down, financing of Islamists, Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, names his son as successor