Kuwait City: Kuwait on Wednesday laid to rest late ruler Shaikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, a Gulf Arab elder statesman who helped steer his nation through some of the region’s most turbulent decades, in funeral rites closed to the public due to COVID-19 concerns.
His successor and brother, Amir Shaikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah, 83, headed the rites after being sworn in at parliament, pledging to work for the OPEC member state’s prosperity, stability and security.
“Our dear nation today faces difficult situations and dangerous challenges that can only be overcome ... by unifying ranks and working hard together,” he told the National Assembly.
Shaikh Nawaf takes the reins of the small wealthy nation, which holds the world’s seventh-largest oil reserves, at a time when low crude prices and the coronavirus have strained the finances of a country with a cradle-to-grave welfare system.
His succession is not expected to change oil or investment policy and he is seen maintaining a foreign policy that saw Kuwait balance ties with larger neighbours Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran.
Dignitaries from around the world paid respects to Shaikh Sabah, a seasoned diplomat and savvy politician widely respected as a humanitarian who strove to heal rifts in the Middle East, mending ties with former occupier Iraq and championing the Palestinian cause.
“He will be long remembered by all who work for regional stability, understanding between nations and between faiths, and for the humanitarian cause,” Britain’s Queen Elizabeth said in a statement tweeted by Buckingham Palace.
“DIFFICULT TIMES”
Shaikh Sabah, who died on Tuesday in the United States were he was hospitalised since July, had ruled the US-allied country since 2006, and steered its foreign policy for over 50 years.
Shaikh Nawaf was at the airport when the plane brought the body back home, wrapped in a white shroud and the Kuwaiti flag.
Shaikh Sabah was buried in Sulaibikhat cemetery alongside his kin, after prayers at Bilal bin Rabah mosque where mourners, including Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, all wore face masks.
The UAE said it was represented by its deputy premier, who is also interior minister, and the minister of tolerance and coexistence, both members of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family.
When Kuwait’s previous amir, Shaikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, died in 2006, thousands of Kuwaitis attended the funeral and many, along with expatriates, lined the streets.
“I am sure all the men would have loved to go ... and we as women would have loved to somehow pay tribute to our amir,” Khadija, a Kuwaiti fitness instructor, told Reuters.
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