KUWAIT CITY, 22 March 2003 — Thousands of Arab nationals queued here yesterday for visas to Saudi Arabia in a bid to escape Kuwait during the ongoing war in neighboring Iraq.
With many regular flights from Kuwait halted and boat services across the Gulf to Iran suspended, expatriate workers wanting to head for countries such as Syria, Jordan and Egypt have little option but to travel south to the Saudi border.
The consular section of the Saudi Embassy extended its opening hours to accommodate the flood of visa requests. Around 2,000 people could be seen waiting in well-ordered queues around the mission in the Jabriya section of the city.
Egyptian teacher Mahmoud Negm said he was heading home as the government had ordered all schools to close for at least a week with air sirens becoming a regular feature of life in the Kuwaiti capital.
Negm said he would travel by bus to the Saudi border before then making his way to Jordan and then on to his hometown in Mansura.
“I have been here for three hours but I have to get the visa as the schools are closed,” he said.
