Kuwait’s chief, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah, has died aged 86, the nation’s state media has introduced.
Sheikh Nawaf had been Kuwait’s emir for 3 years, having taken over from his late half-brother, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, in 2020.
His demise comes after he was rushed to hospital with an unspecified sickness in November. Authorities have but to substantiate the trigger.
An announcement aired by the minister of his emiri court docket, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah al-Sabah, stated: “With great sadness and sorrow, the Kuwaiti people, the Arab and Islamic nations and the friendly peoples of the world, we mourn the death of his highness Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al Sabah, emir of the State of Kuwait.
“We pray to Allah Almighty that the deceased be blessed along with his mercy and to be with him in his heavenly dwelling.”
Kuwait’s deputy ruler and Sheikh Nawaf’s half-brother, Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Jaber, 83, will take over because the nation’s ruler, state media has introduced.
Kuwait, which is across the identical measurement of the US state of New Jersey, has the world’s sixth-largest recognized oil reserves.
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The nation of 4.2 million individuals has been a trusted US ally for the reason that 1991 Gulf War expelled the occupying Iraqi forces of Saddam Hussein.
It hosts some 13,500 American troops within the nation, in addition to the ahead headquarters of the US Army within the Middle East.
Sheikh Nawaf, who beforehand served as Kuwait’s inside and defence minister, was seen as a largely uncontroversial selection for emir when he took over in 2020, in line with analysts.
His time period had been centered on home points as Kuwait struggles by political disputes – together with the overhaul of its welfare system – which prevented the sheikhdom from taking up debt.
He issued a long-awaited amnesty decree in 2021, pardoning and decreasing the sentences of almost three dozen Kuwaiti dissidents in a transfer aimed toward defusing a significant authorities standoff.
He additionally issued one other simply earlier than his sickness, aiming to resolve the political impasse that noticed Kuwait maintain three separate parliamentary elections underneath his rule.
Source: information.sky.com”