Post by Bozur on Jan 18, 2006 2:23:51 GMT -5
Emir of Kuwait, 79, Dies; Led Kuwait in Riches and Ruin
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Published: January 15, 2006
JIDDA, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, Jan. 15 - Sheik Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the soft-spoken emir of Kuwait who ruled the oil-rich country for 28 years through the tumult of the Iranian revolution, the Iran-Iraq war and the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's armies in 1990, died early Sunday morning, the Kuwaiti Royal Court announced.
Agence France Presse - Getty Images
Sheik Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
The emir, 79, had been ailing from a serious brain hemorrhage in 2001, had fallen out of public sight and was a virtual invalid in his final days.
Crown Prince Sheik Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, 75, a distant cousin appointed as heir apparent in 1978, takes over as ruler. The announcement was made on Kuwaiti state television on Sunday morning.
The statement said government offices would be closed for three days beginning Sunday and announced a mourning period of 40 days.
Concerns over succession in the gulf state's leadership have continued to grow in recent years, with the emir ailing and his 73-year-old crown prince and heir also suffering health problems.
In November, the emir vowed in a message to Parliament to put "an end to matters in the interest of Kuwait's stability and security," a statement taken to mean he would reconsider the succession.
That same day Sheik Salem al-Ali al-Sabah, a senior member of the family, told the Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Qabas that the country needed a committee to "support the leadership," alluding to succession issue while complaining of "chaos" and corruption, apparently a criticism of current prime minister, Sheik Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, 76, the emir's half-brother.
Before becoming emir, upon the death of his cousin Sheik Sabah al-Salemal al-Sabah, who ruled from 1965 to 1977, Sheik Jaber was credited with adopting a Fund for Future Generations, in which a portion of Kuwait's huge oil revenues - it sits on 10 percent of known world oil reserves - were set aside annually for investment abroad, a kind of rainy-day fund.
As emir, he led a wide-ranging modernization of Kuwait that focused on education and construction of an urban state with some of the highest per-capita incomes in the world.
He was conspicuous in his public support of women's rights, although he was opposed by conservative Muslims and various tribal leaders in the National Assembly. Last May, Kuwait finally granted women full political rights, allowing them to run in parliamentary elections as well as vote, a longstanding goal of his.
Sheik Jaber quickly earned the reputation of being one of the more benign rulers of an Arab country, following years of controversy for the oil-rich state in which it vexed Iran by supporting Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war, joined the oil embargo against the United States, and sent troops to fight in the 1967 war against Israel.
The course of the country was forever changed by the invasion by forces of Saddam Hussein in the early hours of Aug. 2, after a festering dispute with Iraq over oil rights and sales.
As Iraqi troops rolled into the city, the emir and members of his family fled by automobile to Saudi Arabia. There, the emir formed a government in exile until an American-led coalition evicted the Iraqi troops.
He returned to a country that had been plundered and vandalized by the Iraqis, who set fire to many Kuwaiti oil wells as they retreated toward Baghdad.
The emir was 65 years old when he returned, and many news reports depicted him as looking frail and frightened.
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Published: January 15, 2006
JIDDA, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, Jan. 15 - Sheik Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the soft-spoken emir of Kuwait who ruled the oil-rich country for 28 years through the tumult of the Iranian revolution, the Iran-Iraq war and the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's armies in 1990, died early Sunday morning, the Kuwaiti Royal Court announced.
Agence France Presse - Getty Images
Sheik Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
The emir, 79, had been ailing from a serious brain hemorrhage in 2001, had fallen out of public sight and was a virtual invalid in his final days.
Crown Prince Sheik Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, 75, a distant cousin appointed as heir apparent in 1978, takes over as ruler. The announcement was made on Kuwaiti state television on Sunday morning.
The statement said government offices would be closed for three days beginning Sunday and announced a mourning period of 40 days.
Concerns over succession in the gulf state's leadership have continued to grow in recent years, with the emir ailing and his 73-year-old crown prince and heir also suffering health problems.
In November, the emir vowed in a message to Parliament to put "an end to matters in the interest of Kuwait's stability and security," a statement taken to mean he would reconsider the succession.
That same day Sheik Salem al-Ali al-Sabah, a senior member of the family, told the Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Qabas that the country needed a committee to "support the leadership," alluding to succession issue while complaining of "chaos" and corruption, apparently a criticism of current prime minister, Sheik Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, 76, the emir's half-brother.
Before becoming emir, upon the death of his cousin Sheik Sabah al-Salemal al-Sabah, who ruled from 1965 to 1977, Sheik Jaber was credited with adopting a Fund for Future Generations, in which a portion of Kuwait's huge oil revenues - it sits on 10 percent of known world oil reserves - were set aside annually for investment abroad, a kind of rainy-day fund.
As emir, he led a wide-ranging modernization of Kuwait that focused on education and construction of an urban state with some of the highest per-capita incomes in the world.
He was conspicuous in his public support of women's rights, although he was opposed by conservative Muslims and various tribal leaders in the National Assembly. Last May, Kuwait finally granted women full political rights, allowing them to run in parliamentary elections as well as vote, a longstanding goal of his.
Sheik Jaber quickly earned the reputation of being one of the more benign rulers of an Arab country, following years of controversy for the oil-rich state in which it vexed Iran by supporting Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war, joined the oil embargo against the United States, and sent troops to fight in the 1967 war against Israel.
The course of the country was forever changed by the invasion by forces of Saddam Hussein in the early hours of Aug. 2, after a festering dispute with Iraq over oil rights and sales.
As Iraqi troops rolled into the city, the emir and members of his family fled by automobile to Saudi Arabia. There, the emir formed a government in exile until an American-led coalition evicted the Iraqi troops.
He returned to a country that had been plundered and vandalized by the Iraqis, who set fire to many Kuwaiti oil wells as they retreated toward Baghdad.
The emir was 65 years old when he returned, and many news reports depicted him as looking frail and frightened.