JEDDAH/KUWAIT CITY, 16 January 2006 — People across the Arab and Islamic world mourned the death of Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah who passed away yesterday.
Arab leaders paid tribute to the late Kuwaiti leader as his body was taken through the streets of Kuwait City and laid to rest. Many Arab countries declared days of mourning for the man credited with using the emirate’s huge oil wealth to help less fortunate Arab and Muslim nations.
The Jordanian royal court expressed deep sadness at the passing of Sheikh Jaber who it said “devoted his life to serving Kuwait and its brotherly people and defend just Arab and Muslim causes.”
Bahrain’s royal court regretted the loss “of an extraordinary leader and a wise man who dedicated his life to serving his nation, his religion and humanity.”
Sheikh Jaber’s death “is a great loss for the brotherly people of Kuwait as well as for the Arab and Muslim nations,” said a Yemeni official statement.
“The great deceased is one of those leaders who worked relentlessly ... for solidarity, unity and common action among the Arab and Islamic nations,” it added. An Omani statement said Muscat “shares the sadness ... of our Kuwaiti brothers for their great loss.” The emir died earlier yesterday aged 79.
UAE President Sheikh Khalifa ibn Zayed Al-Nahayan said “the Arab and Muslim nations have lost an eminent leader.”
Sheikh Jaber had adopted “a firm position throughout the difficult days endured by Kuwait,” during the Iraqi invasion and occupation of the emirate between August 1990 and February 1991, said an official statement. Syrian President Bashar Assad in a message to Kuwait’s new emir, Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, expressed his “sincere condolences in the name of the Syrian people”.
People in Saudi Arabia were also grieved at the death of Sheikh Jaber.
Abdul Wahab Al-Rajhi, deputy chairman of Al-Rajhi Group, said the death of Sheikh Jaber was a big loss for the Islamic world, especially for the people of Kuwait. He said Sheikh Jaber played a big role in rebuilding Kuwait and making it a country having political and economic weight.
Dr. Saad Al-Ghamdi, vice president of Abdul Latif Jameel Group, said he received the news with big shock. “Sheikh Jaber opened the door for people to participate in gaining international experience,” he said and commended the Kuwait emir’s support for the Palestinians and charitable projects worldwide.
Dr. Dhiya Othmani, director of markets at Jeddah Municipality, noted the role played by Sheikh Jaber in successfully steering his country through crises.
Dr. Fadlurrahman Bakhsh, a medical consultant at the Royal Court in Riyadh, described the late emir as a courageous leader. “Everybody loved him,” Bakhsh told Arab News.
