Kuwait to Change Leadership

Kuwait's current leaders (from left to right) HH Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah & HH Crown Prince and Prime Minister Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah

October 12, 2005

Michael Lundell

Kuwait is set to welcome new leaders of its country as its current ones step down. The country is currently ruled by 79-year-old His Highness Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah. His expected successor, HH Crown Prince and Prime Minister Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, 76, was recently admitted to a London hospital for long-term reasons relating to low blood sugar levels (diabetes).

HH Emir Al-Sabah is expected to give a ruling any day that will end speculation as to who will be the country’s next leader once both the Emir and the Crown Prince step down, which seems inevitable in the coming days.

HH Emir Al-Sabah suffered a severe stroke in 2001 and has not been seen in public much since then.

The change in leadership is expected to have ramifications throughout the Mideast region. The government of Kuwait has not changed leadership since 1977-78, and members of Kuwait’s government are starting to feud over their replacement.

The country has been also taken care of by HH First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah for much of 2005. PM Al-Sabah would make a fairly good choice for being the next Emir; he has a long history in government and is quite popular in the Kuwaiti parliament. He is, however, 72-years-old, and recently had extensive heart surgery.

Whoever will be chosen to be the next Emir will most likely be from the Jabir line of descent, like the current Emir.

Emir Al-Sabah was born in 1929 to then ruler Sheikh Ahmed. He quickly rose to government ranks after an extensive education in local schools, becoming head of the Department of Finance in 1959. Kuwait’s independence was gained in 1962. Emir Al-Sabah became ruler in 1977.

Crown Prince Sheikh Saad Abdullah Al-Sabah started his rule in 1978 and is descended from the other main patriarch of Kuwait, Mubarak the Great. He was also born in 1929 to Sheikh Abdullah. His mother, Sheika Jamila, was of African descent. Crown Prince Al-Sabah studied in Kuwait and in England, where he attended the Hendon Police School. In 1959 the Crown Prince became chief of Kuwaiti police and public security and also minister of the interior, until becoming Crown Prince and minister of defense in 1978.

The change in leadership will come as Kuwait’s post war government makes strides in governmental reform. The next group of leaders will likely oversee Kuwait’s engagement with government change for the near future.

Kuwait has relatively friendly relations with its neighbors, including tentative relations with the new government of Iraq, and is seen as a close ally to all in the Arabian Gulf region.

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