Kuwaiti ruler Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Sabah dies aged 91

 

, the ruler of Kuwait  has died aged 91 on Tuesday. He pushed for closer ties to Iraq after the 1990 Gulf  War and peaceful solutions to other regional crises which  resolved a bitter dispute between Qatar and other Arab nations.

He came to power in Kuwait as a strong US ally since the American-led war that expelled occupying Iraqi troops,, after parliament voted unanimously to oust his predecessor, the ailing Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah, just nine days into the rule.

As Kuwait’s ruling Emir, he struggled with internal political disputes, the fallout of the 2011 Arab Spring protests  and seesawing crude oil prices that chewed into a national budget providing cradle-to-grave subsidies.

Sheikh Sabah is expected to be succeeded by his half brother  the crown prince Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah.