Kuwait: The emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber Ahmad Sabah, died yesterday and was buried before sunset in an unmarked grave in accordance with Muslim tradition.
Sheikh Jaber (79), who became an ailing recluse after suffering a brain haemorrhage in 2001, was succeeded by a cousin, Crown Prince Sheikh Saad Abdullah Sabah (77), also in poor health. Trained at Hendon police college in Britain, he is regarded as a security man and has little popular recognition.
Although Sheikh Saad's heir has not been named, prime minister Sheikh Sabah Ahmad Sabah is expected to become crown prince and retain his current post. The Sabahs have ruled Kuwait since 1752.
The death of the emir is unlikely to have a negative impact on oil production, currently 2.5 million barrels a day, or alter the pro-Western orientation of the emirate which since the 2003 US war on Iraq has become a major base for US forces.
Born three decades before the oil boom, Sheikh Jaber was admired as a modest man in a family known for ostentation. Designated crown prince and premier in 1965, he became ruler on the death of his uncle in 1977. He followed the example of his predecessors by keeping a tight rein on political affairs and appointing family members to the key oil, foreign, defence, interior and finance ministries.
But since the early 1970s, the emirs have found it increasingly difficult to impose their will on the elected 50-member National Assembly. This precipitated political crises leading to the dissolution of parliament in 1976, 1986 and 1999.
Initially the challenge came from liberal elements but in recent years conservative Muslim and tribal personalities brought in to form a counter- weight to progressives have opposed reforms adopted by the ruler and most recently vetoed the vote for women.
The greatest crisis Sheikh Jaber had to face was the Iraqi occupation of the emirate in August 1990. He and the rest of his family fled and remained abroad until the US-led coalition drove Iraqi forces back across the border in early 1991.
Kuwaitis were sharply critical of the Sabahs for adopting a confrontational line over oil pricing with former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein that prompted him to invade and for failing to defend the country or organise resistance. The Sabahs have not regained the public's confidence.
Sheikh Jaber's legacy to his people is the fund for future generations. He decreed that 10 per cent of oil revenues should be earmarked for the time when the emirate's petroleum resources are exhausted. The fund has an estimated balance of $60 billion.
Sheikh Jaber is the fourth Gulf ruler to die in less than 18 months.
United Arab Emirate president and Abu Dhabi ruler Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Nayhan died in November 2004; Saudi King Fahd in August 2005, and Dubai's ruler Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashed Maktoum on January 4th.
