Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Jaber dies

Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah.

KUWAIT - The ruler of US ally Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who rebuilt his Gulf Arab state after US-led forces ended Iraq's devastating occupation in 1991, died on Sunday aged 78 and his ailing heir was made emir.

Analysts expected a smooth transition of power and no change in Kuwait's oil policies and pro-Western outlook under the 76-year-old new emir, Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, who is largely incapacitated by illness.

Sheikh Saad's poor health recently sparked concern about the succession but officials say he is likely to be a figurehead while Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah runs the country, as he has for the past four years.

Kuwait sits on one-tenth of the world's proven oil reserves.

"According to the constitution ... and in accordance with the rules of succession, the cabinet calls on the heir and crown prince ... as emir of the country," said a cabinet statement read out on state television.

Sheikh Jaber's body, wrapped in a Kuwaiti flag, was buried in a simple, sand grave bordered with white stones in the Sulaibikhat cemetery alongside his kin.

Arab dignitaries, including Jordan's King Abdullah, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, flew to Kuwait to pay their respects.

Sheikh Jaber suffered a brain haemorrhage in 2001, which limited his duties in the country.

He fled to Saudi Arabia in 1990 when Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait but returned after a US-led alliance ended the occupation in 1991, and led the rebuilding of a land scarred by killing, torture and brutal Iraqi rule.

He also oversaw the rehabilitation of oilfields set on fire by retreating Iraqi troops.

He lived to see Iraqi President Saddam Hussein toppled in 2003 when US-led troops using Kuwait as a main staging ground invaded the country. Kuwait hosts up to 30,000 US troops and is home to some 13,000 US citizens.

Iraq's current president, Jalal Talabani, led a delegation to the funeral.

AVERTING A CRISIS

Analysts said Sheikh Saad's appointment was aimed at averting a crisis within the ruling family, which traditionally must alternate the leadership between its two branches.

"The country has been run by (Prime Minister) Sheikh Sabah for years. Policy will remain stable. It will not be affected by any change in the guard," former Oil Minister Ali al-Baghli told Reuters.

During his reign, Sheikh Jaber also steered Kuwait through the 1980-88 war between neighbors Iraq and Iran, and violence by pro-Iranian militants who tried to assassinate him in 1985.

Women also won the right to vote and run for office.

Kuwait's cradle-to-the-grave welfare system for nationals boosted the late emir's standing among the people. "No one ever said a bad word about him. Friend nor foe," said fire department employee Fahd Al-Diyyan, 35.

Thousands of Kuwaitis and expatriates, some carrying posters of Sheikh Jaber, jostled with armed security forces to pay their respects to their leader. Women wearing traditional black robes sobbed as the crowd chanted "There is no God but Allah".

"He is the father of the orphans. He helped every citizen," said Kuwaiti student Dalal al-Utaim, 18.

Kuwaiti oil officials said the country would stick to its policy of keeping global markets well supplied.

"Kuwait's (oil) policy will not change," an official, who declined to be named, told Reuters by telephone. "The oil sector is running as normal, both production and exports." Kuwait pumps around 2.68 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil.

Kuwait declared a 40-day period of mourning and government offices, banks and the stock market will close for three days.

The emir was the 13th ruler of a dynasty that has ruled Kuwait for more than two centuries. The Anaiza tribe, to which the al-Sabahs belong, migrated from the Arabian hinterland.

Kuwait has cracked down on Islamists opposed to the US military presence in the country, though diplomats say radical Islam is taking hold among Kuwaiti youth.

- REUTERS