Following the death of his brother, Sheikh Nawaf became emir in September 2020.
Kuwait’s ruling emir, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, died at the age of 86, barely over three years after taking office, according to Kuwaiti official television.
His cause of death has not been disclosed, despite the fact that the ruling emir was hospitalized last month “due to an emergency health problem” but was later declared to be in stable condition.
The small Mideast country, which borders Iraq to the north and Saudi Arabia to the south and possesses the world’s seventh-largest oil resource, has seen internal power struggles behind palace doors.
Just before a solemn official delivered the announcement, Kuwaiti state television began broadcasting Quranic verses.
Related Posts
“With great sadness and sorrow, we — the Kuwaiti people, the Arab and Islamic nations, and the friendly peoples of the world — mourn the late His Highness the emir, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, who passed away to his Lord today,” read Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Al Sabah, minister of his emiri court.
According to prior reports, he traveled to the United States in March 2021 for unspecified medical exams.
Sheikh Nawaf was named crown prince in 2006 and became emir in September 2020 after the death of his brother, Sheikh Sabah, who governed for more than a decade and established the state’s foreign policy for more than 50 years.
When Iraq invaded and captured Kuwait in 1990, Sheikh Nawaf was the country’s defense minister, kicking off the first Gulf War. Since then, Kuwait has remained a staunch US supporter.
Sheikh Nawaf has maintained a foreign policy that balances connections with those neighbors since taking office in 2020, while eight governments have been created domestically under his rule.
Sheikh Nawaf’s tenure was focused on domestic matters as the country grappled with political disagreements, notably the reorganization of Kuwait’s welfare system, which protected the sheikhdom from incurring debt. Despite having enormous riches from its oil deposits, this policy left it with little in its treasury to pay bloated public sector salaries.
Sheikh Nawaf issued a long-awaited amnesty proclamation in 2021, pardoning and reducing the sentences of over three dozen Kuwaiti dissidents in an effort to defuse a serious government conflict. He issued another shortly before his sickness, attempting to end the political impasse that saw Kuwait hold three successive legislative elections during his reign.
Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, 83, has been Kuwait’s de facto ruler since 2021, when the elderly emir delegated most of his powers. He is half-brother to Sheikh Nawaf.
Kuwait has a population of approximately 4.5 million people, 1.45 million of whom are Kuwaiti citizens. The remaining 3 million are foreign nationals from more than a hundred different countries.
According to Sky News Arabia, Egypt has proclaimed three days of mourning for Sheikh Nawaf’s death.
