Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwait’s ruling emir, died on Saturday after a low-key three-year rule focused on analyzing the oil-rich country’s internal political conflicts. He was 86.
Kuwait state television featured programming featuring Quranic verses just before an obscure official made the announcement.
“It is with wonderful sadness that we – the Kuwaiti people, the Arab and Islamic nations and the friendly peoples of the world – mourn the passing of His Highness the Amir, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, who passed away to obtain advantages from his Lord today,” said Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Al Sabah, minister of his emir’s court, who read the brief statement.
Authorities gave no cause of death.
President Biden said in a statement that he was saddened by the death.
“Sheikh Nawaf has been a valued spouse and a true friend of America during his decades of service,” Biden said.
“We honor his life and our shared vision of greater peace and stability in the Middle East,” Biden said. “We will continue the long-standing ties between the governments and other peoples of the United States and Kuwait as we pursue this long journey together. “
Kuwait’s deputy ruler and his half-brother, Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmad Al Jaber, now 83, had been the world’s oldest crown prince. The state-run KUNA news agency said Sheikh Meshal, a longtime leader in the country’s security services, had been named emir Saturday afternoon and now is one of the Gulf Arab countries’ last octogenarian leaders.
In 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 U.S. for unspecified medical checks in March 2021.
The fitness of Kuwait’s leaders remains a sensitive factor in the Middle Eastern country bordering Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which has observed infighting at the palace gates.
Those years of Sheikh Nawaf’s life, born before oil completely transformed Kuwait from an advertising hub to a petrostate, disappear with age. This, coupled with the fact that other Arab Gulf countries have put in place younger, more assertive leaders, has put increasing pressure on them. over Al Sabah to hand over the force to the next generation.
In neighboring Saudi Arabia, King Salman, 87, has reportedly handed over the day-to-day leadership of his country to his 38-year-old son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Sheikh Nawaf was sworn in as emir in the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, following the death of his predecessor, the late Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah. The breadth and intensity of the emotion over the loss of Sheikh Sabah, known for his diplomatic and peacemaking skills. , was felt throughout the region.
Sheikh Nawaf was in the past Minister of Interior and Defense of Kuwait. His political fate was never secure, even though he was a member of the ruling Al Sabah family. As defense minister, Sheikh Nawaf oversaw the immediate collapse of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s forces. Invasion of his country in August 1990. He was heavily criticized for his decisions during the war.
A letter purportedly sent to the country’s leader at the time claimed that Sheikh Nawaf had ordered tank crews not to fire when attacking Iraqi forces. The reasoning for this alleged order remains unclear. Battle-hardened Iraqi forces, after years of war with Iran, easily managed to defeat the country.
A U.S.-led, multinational force later expelled the Iraqis from Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm. The Al Sabah never published the findings of its investigations into the government’s actions around the invasion.
“Our main goal is liberation. After our return, we will fix up our own house,” Sheikh Nawaf said in 1991. “You have to reform and correct everything, beyond the mistakes. “
Sheikh Nawaf was demoted and then did not hold a ministerial post for about a decade, serving as deputy head of the country’s National Guard. Even upon his return, analysts saw him as inactive in government, his low-key technique later attracting some Kuwaitis who eventually abandoned his wartime performance.
Sheikh Nawaf was largely an uncontroversial choice for emir, though his advancing age led analysts to suggest his tenure would be short. It was — he had the third-shortest tenure of any emir since the Al Sabah ruled Kuwait beginning in 1752.
During his tenure, he focused on internal issues as the country grappled with political conflicts (adding to the revision of Kuwait’s social welfare formula) that kept the sheikh out of debt. This leaves it with little cash in its coffers to pay inflated public sector salaries. even though he generates immense wealth from his oil reserves.
In 2021, Sheikh Nawaf issued a long-awaited amnesty decree, pardoning and trimming the sentences of roughly three dozen Kuwaiti dissidents, in an effort to defuse a stalemate in government primaries. He published just before his illness, in an attempt to break up the political conflict. A stalemate that has also caused Kuwait to hold three separate parliamentary elections under his rule.
“He earned his title — he has a nickname here, they call him ‘the emir of pardons,'” said Bader al-Saif, an assistant professor of history at Kuwait University. “No one in modern Kuwaiti history has gone this far to reach out to the other side, to open up.”
Kuwait is perceived to have the freest parliament in the Gulf, which is relatively conducive to dissent.
Kuwait, a country of about 4. 2 million people and smaller than the U. S. state of New Jersey, has the world’s sixth-largest known oil reserves.
It has been a staunch U.S. ally since the 1991 Gulf War. Kuwait hosts around 13,500 American troops in the country, as well as the forward headquarters of the U.S. Army in the Middle East.