DUBAI, 16 Dec: Kuwait\u2019s ruling emir, the 86-year-old Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, died Saturday after a three-year, low-key reign focused on trying to resolve the tiny, oil-rich nation\u2019s internal political disputes.
\nKuwait state television broke into programming with Quranic verses just before a somber official made the announcement.
\n\u201cWith great sadness and sorrow, we \u2014 the Kuwaiti people, the Arab and Islamic nations, and the friendly peoples of the world \u2014 mourn the late His Highness the emir, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, who passed away to his Lord today,\u201d said Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Al Sabah, the minister of his emiri court, who read the brief statement.
\nAuthorities gave no cause of death.
\nKuwait\u2019s deputy ruler and his half-brother, Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmad Al Jaber, now 83, is believed to be the world\u2019s oldest crown prince. He is in line to take over as Kuwait\u2019s ruler and represents one of the Gulf Arab countries\u2019 last octogenarian leaders.
\nIn late November, Sheikh Nawaf was rushed to a hospital for an unspecified illness. In the time since, Kuwait had been waiting for news about his health. State-run news previously reported that he traveled to the United States for unspecified medical checks in March 2021.
\nThe health of Kuwait\u2019s leaders remains a sensitive matter in the Middle Eastern nation also bordering Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which has seen internal power struggles behind palace doors.
\nThose from Sheikh Nawaf\u2019s lifetime, born before oil fully transformed Kuwait from a trading hub into a petrostate, have been fading away with age. That, as well as other Gulf Arab nations putting younger and more assertive rulers in power, has increasingly put more pressure on the Al Sabah to pass power onto the next generation.
\nIn neighboring Saudi Arabia, King Salman, 87, is widely believed to have placed day-to-day rule of his nation in the hands of his 38-year-old son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
\nSheikh Nawaf was sworn in as emir in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, following the death of his predecessor, the late Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah. The breadth and depth of emotion over the loss of Sheikh Sabah, known for his diplomacy and peacemaking, was felt across the region.
\nSheikh Nawaf previously served as Kuwait\u2019s interior and defense minister. His political fortunes were never certain despite being part of the ruling Al Sabah family. As defense minister, Sheikh Nawaf oversaw the rapid collapse of his forces during Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein\u2019s invasion of his country in August 1990. He faced widespread criticism for his decisions during the war. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DUBAI, 16 Dec: Kuwait\u2019s ruling emir, the 86-year-old Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, died Saturday after a three-year, low-key reign focused on trying to resolve the tiny, oil-rich nation\u2019s internal political disputes. Kuwait state television broke into programming with Quranic verses just before a somber official made the announcement. \u201cWith great sadness and sorrow, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-230786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}