Kuwait City, July 13: Kuwait`s Emir today appointed Sheik Sabah al Ahmed al Sabah as Prime Minister, separating the post from the Crown Prince for the first time in a move seen as a step toward political reform. Sheik Sabah, 74, is the brother of the Emir, Sheik Jaber al Ahmed al Sabah. He has served as foreign minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
Sheik Sabah has been running the country since Sheik Saad, the Crown Prince and outgoing Prime Minister, fell ill with colon problems in 1997 and had to spend long periods abroad for treatment. The country`s 1962 Constitution empowers the Emir to appoint a Prime Minister, but it doesn`t specify if he has to be the Crown Prince, or even a member of the ruling family. But since independence from Britain in 1961, the Crown Prince has always held the post.
Sheik Saad, 73, has been Crown Prince and Prime Minister since 1978. The cabinet resigned today in a routine move, a day after Kuwaitis elected a new legislature that further tightened the grip of fundamentalist Muslims and supporters of the cabinet, led by the ruling family. Bureau Report