How will the death of Kuwait’s Sheikh Sabah affect GCC relations? By Sebastian Castelier (Al Jazeera) / Oct 4 2020
Some Gulf countries may seek to test the commitment of Kuwait’s new leadership to speak up for Gulf Cooperation Council.
Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah has passed away at the age of 91 on September 29 in the United States.
Sheikh Sabah was regarded as the architect of modern Kuwait’s foreign policy; he served as foreign minister for nearly 40 years between 1963 and 2003, was a fervent defender of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) unity, and was regarded by some as the ‘voice of wisdom’ as he mediated in the Gulf crisis that pitted Qatar against three of its GCC brethren.
“It is no longer acceptable nor tolerable to have an ongoing dispute among our brotherly GCC states,” Sheikh Sabah said at the opening session of the Kuwaiti parliament’s new term in 2019, underlining the urgency of ending a sea, land and air blockade imposed on Qatar since 2017 by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, as well as Egypt.
Kuwait’s new emir, 83-year-old Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah who was sworn in on September 30, will face a range of challenges the late, widely respected statesman was dealing with.
Continue to article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/4/how-will-the-death-of-kuwaits-sheikh-sabah-affect-gcc-relations
