WORLD
KUWAIT’S EMIR SHEIKH JABER DIES
The ruler of U.S. ally Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, died on Sunday at the age of 78 after a long illness.
Crown Prince Sheikh Saad al-Abdulla al-Sabah, 76, is likely to be a figurehead while Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah runs the country - a role he has played over the past four years, the world news agencies report.
Sheikh Jaber, who had ruled since 1977, presided over the rebuilding of this tiny Gulf Arab state after neighboring Iraq invaded in 1990 and occupied the country for seven months.
He suffered a brain hemorrhage in 2001, limiting his duties in the country, which controls about 10 percent of known global oil reserves.
The ill health of Sheikh Jaber and Sheikh Saad has caused concern at home and abroad over the future leadership of OPEC's fourth biggest producer.
Calls by parliamentarians and members of the opposition for the Kuwaiti government to replace the crown prince and to share power have also clouded the succession process.
Analysts expect the new emir to keep Kuwait's oil policies and pro-Western outlook. There has been no official word on who will take over, but under the constitution it will be Sheikh Saad, who is largely incapacitated by illness.
Kuwaiti oil officials said the country would stick to its policy of keeping global markets well supplied.
The late Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah was the 13th governor during a 245-years history of this small Arabian country located in Persian Gulf.
For almost of 30 years of his power, he transformed this once poor country in the prospering state in the Near East.