Doha: Qatar`s emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani is to transfer power in the small but economically powerful Gulf nation to his son Sheikh Tamim.
"The royal palace announces that Qatar`s emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, will address the Qatari people at 8:00 am (1030 IST) on Tuesday," the official QNA news agency reported on Monday.
An official said the emir will "announce the transfer of his powers to his son".
The palace statement declared Tuesday an official holiday.
Qatar-based satellite television channel Al-Jazeera said the emir met "with the royal family and prominent members of Qatari society. He has informed the meeting of his decision to hand power over to his crown prince."
Sheikh Hamad, who used Qatar`s immense gas wealth to drive its modernisation and transform it into a major player on the world`s diplomatic scene, came to power in a coup in which he overthrew his father Sheikh Khalifa in June 1995.
Al-Jazeera reported earlier that the emir`s planned meeting with royals and prominent members of society "comes amid news about the intentions of the emir to transfer power to his heir apparent, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani".
A diplomat said that by stepping down of his free accord the 61-year-old emir would "score a first in the Arab world," where autocratic rulers held power uncontested for decades until the Arab Spring revolutions that toppled regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim, born in 1980, is the second son of the emir and his second wife Sheikha Mozah.
He is deputy commander of the armed forces and head of the National Olympic Committee, which is in charge of hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Diplomats said that over the past three years the emir has increasingly handed over military and security responsibilities to Tamim, who like his father was educated at the British military academy Sandhurst.
AFP
