Sheikh Saad: New era

Kuwait, Jan. 24 (Reuters): Kuwait’s parliament deposed the Arab Gulf country’s ailing new ruler on health grounds today and the cabinet nominated the Prime Minister as the new emir.

Parliament voted unanimously to remove Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah shortly before receiving his abdication letter, parliamentarians said. Sheikh Saad only became emir on January 15 and had not yet taken his oath of office.

“After listening to the medical report, the Assembly with its 65 members agreed to remove him from the post of emir,” parliament speaker Jassem al-Kharafi said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who is Sheikh Saad’s cousin, had already been de facto ruler for four years.

The vote was a rare assertion of parliamentary muscle against a hereditary ruler in the Arab world, even though Kuwait’s ruling family had agreed Sheikh Saad should step down.

House Speaker Jassem al-Kharafi said there were no conditions attached to the emir’s abdication letter, which he said had arrived after the vote had taken place.

“Even though his Highness the emir has decided to step down he is still in the hearts of all of Kuwait’s people and we have a lot of love, appreciation and respect for him,” Kharafi said.

“This is God’s will and there’s nothing to do except to wish him to get well and to have complete rest,” he added.

Sheikh Sabah has strong support within the ruling family, but his accession has interrupted a tradition of alternating power between the two rival branches of the al Sabah dynasty.

Sheikh Sabah is expected to maintain Kuwait’s oil policy and the pro-Western stance of the country which holds about 10 per cent of the world's crude reserves.