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2010 Kuwait archive
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PM survives key vote after agreeing to grilling
Prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah in early December agreed to answer questions in parliament over the alleged misuse of funds. He is the first premier to agree to be called to account before the National Assembly – earlier attempts resulted in the resignation of the cabinet and new elections (GSN 826/1).
Issue 868, 18 December 2009. more
Al-Muslim finds a wider audience for attacks on PM
While analysts say the current National Assembly is more serious about policy issues than its predecessor, significant voices have continued a more personalised campaign against prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and his government (GSN 863/1).
Issue 865, 20 November 2009. more
Kuwait’s constitution boosts status of women
For the second time in a month, Kuwait’s constitutional court has ruled in favour of women’s rights. It has decided that women who do not wear the hijab retain their full political rights to vote and to sit as members of parliament. The court’s judgement, which cannot be appealed, is a serious rebuff to ideological Islamists seeking to undermine the breakthrough made by the dynamic feminist movement with the election of four women to the National Assembly in May.
Issue 864, November 2009. more
Kuwait’s women MPs demand more
Voting, parliamentary seats and ministerial posts are only the start for Aseel Al-Awadhi. She wants women in Kuwait to be full citizens in more than politics. Despite recent reforms – discussed in Politics below – there is still a huge distance to make up in terms of women’s social and legal status, says the MP, who does not wear a hijab, inside parliament or elsewhere.
Issue 864, November 2009. more
Death of a Kuwaiti political player: Talal Mubarak Al-Ayyar – 5 March 1959-23 October 2009
The death of Talal Al-Ayyar at the age of 50 marks a theatrical crescendo to the tumult and controversy of Kuwaiti public life, in which the former statesman had been an active player
Issue 864, November 2009. more
Confrontation threatens Kuwait reform hopes
Despite the slow but steady progress now being made on policy issues, the prospect of an old-style ministerial grilling threatens Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed and may lead to the dissolution of parliament
Issue 863, 23 October 2009. more
Risk Management Report
New government to push on with constitutional reform and civil liberties
Issue 863, 23 October 2009. more
Political wrangling hampers domestic energy policy
Engaging international oil companies in projects at home is essential to meet long-term demand, but MPs’ failure to agree on the way forward means Kuwait is having more success abroad
Issue 861, 25 September 2009. more
Kuwait arrests reflect a long history of militancy
The emirate represents the second most threatened in the GCC after Saudi Arabia, and Kuwaitis are significantly represented among Al-Qaeda’s leadership
Issue 860, 11 September 2009. more
Chevron closes head office
US major Chevron Corporation has closed its head office in Kuwait after failed negotiations for enhanced technical services agreements (TSAs) – indicating that the recent government reshuffle may have done little to change political opposition to foreign involvement in the hydrocarbons industry.
Issue 859, 7 August 2009 more
Kuwaiti tribes look south as domestic pressures grow
Tribal politics tends to alienate many Kuwaitis, but the emirate’s campaign to stop tribes from holding primary contests ahead of the recent legislative election is being undermined by Saudi indulgence of such practices. Unofficial Saudi sources report that Kuwaiti tribes evaded the law against holding primaries to select National Assembly candidates by holding the contests over the border in Saudi Arabia.
Issue 858, 24 July 2009. more
Risk management report
GSN Risk Grade — C/2 Election breakthrough for women but more action on reform required
Issue 858, 24 July 2009. more
Ahmed Al-Fahd is back and so are grillings
The former oil minister’s return is a measure of the political complications that Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed has to negotiate as opponents launch first grilling.
Just days after announcing his new government, Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah looks set to face its first test with a Popular Bloc-led parliamentary motion to grill one of his most senior officials, Interior Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Khalid Al-Sabah. The premier will need to mobilise all the goodwill he can muster among liberals and parliamentary newcomers, and quickly, if he is to prevent his actions once more being hamstrung by constant parliamentary harassment.
Issue 855, 12 June 2009. more
Investment firms crisis adds to pressure on economy
Moody’s Investors Service on 9 June applied a ‘negative’ ratings outlook to Kuwait’s Aa2 sovereign ratings – a downgrade from the previous ‘stable’ – adding to investor discomfort during a period when Kuwait-based financial institutions have come under intense scrutiny. Following the crisis that overwhelmed Investment Dar and smaller institutions, the International Monetary Fund has warned that a solvency crisis in investment companies could overwhelm the financial sector, and there have been further claims about the reliability of major player Global Investment House’s transactions before and since it cross-defaulted on $2.7bn-worth of debt in December. Global reported a $885m loss for 2008.
Issue 855, 12 June 2009. more
Kuwait’s democracy gives itself a fresh chance
Having seen voters punish the protagonists of confrontation, new MPs – women in the vanguard – could hold the key to co-operation in government. Prominent new MP Rola Dashti told GSN that Kuwaitis were seeking solutions rather than apportioning blame. Reappointed PM Sheikh Nasser Mohammed will hope she’s right.
Issue 854, 29 May 2009. more
Also see Issue 854, 29 May 2009. Kuwaiti political balance: ICM battered; Election of female MPs indicates change in public mood
Risk management report
GSN Risk Grade — C/2: Election due as political instability continues, economy weathers downturn
Issue 852, 1 May 2009. more
Major IOCs downsize
With the government still in limbo, and the financial crisis putting pressure on everyone, it comes as no surprise that major international oil companies are withdrawing staff and nearing ‘the end of their tether’ with Kuwait’s energy project delays, which in recent months has seen the cancellation of the KDow deal and fourth refinery project (GSN 850/16, 847/19).
Issue 852, 1 May 2009. more
Government sets election date
Kuwaitis will go to the polls to elect a new parliament on 16 May, just under a year after the last elections and the third such vote since May 2006 (GSN 826/1). Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah last month dissolved the National Assembly to “safeguard the security of the nation and its stability” after MPs filed three separate grilling motions against Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah over major policy decisions such as the cancellation of the KDow venture, economic policy, and the use of oil revenues and concerns about expenses at the Prime Minister’s diwan (GSN 850/16, 849/1).
Issue 851, 17 April 2009. more
It will take more than clever politics to break Kuwaiti deadlock
Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is playing a canny game ahead of May’s general election. It is only ten months since Kuwait went to the polls – and two years since the previous election – a political cycle that illustrates the pattern of confrontation between parliamentarians and ministers which has repeatedly blocked legislation and approval of major projects.
Issue 850, 27 March 2009. more
Also see Issue 849, 13 March 2009. Kuwait’s premier pays the price of moderate Islamist defection; Issue 849, 13 March 2009. The ICM changes its tune; Issue 845, 16 January 2009. Cabinet choices fail to impress
KEC remains bullish on 2009 plans
Ambitious Gulf minnow Kuwait Energy Company (KEC), present in seven Yemeni blocks, has spoken about its plans to weather the global credit crunch. At an American Business Council meeting recently, KEC’s chief executive Sara Akbar said that the company was prepared for the road ahead and was armed with capital discipline and a positive attitude (GSN 835/8). She said that KEC had achieved 90% of its 2008 goals – it raised its oil production to 10,000b/d and declared $38m in net profits, but fell short of its intended 100m bbls in reserve due to problems in its Egyptian oil fields.
Issue 850, 27 March 2009. more
Risk management report
GSN Risk Grade — C/2: Economic support plan unveiled but new government disappoints
Issue 847, 13 February 2009. more
Kuwaiti border made more secure as the state returns to southern Iraq
Plenty of security concerns persist in the northern Gulf, some obvious, others less so – for example, Kuwait is increasingly concerned about the security of its porous Saudi border (GSN 834/6). But there are reasons to be cheerful too, notably on the Iraqi front, where criminality and political manoeuvring remain big actual and potential problems across borders in the region, but where new Iraqi security forces are starting to have an impact on the organised crime culture that has flourished in post-Saddam Iraq.
Issue 846, 30 January 2009. more
Also see Issue 846, 30 January 2009. Iraq’s Kuwait border gets a little less wild
Profile: Al-Kharafis size up Liverpool deal
Experienced members of Kuwait’s billionaire Al-Kharafi family know a deal when they see one: the eventual purchase of Liverpool FC – already a global brand (unlike Abu Dhabi-owned Manchester City – may eventually provide some very good business, although reports that such a deal was imminent were denied by senior Al-Kharafis, whose main business is Mohammed Abdulmohsin Al-Kharafi Company, also known as the Kharafi Group or MAK.
Issue 846, 30 January 2009. more
Cabinet choices fail to impress
Following weeks of negotiations and delays – which prompted talks of a walkout by parliamentarians and fresh grilling threats against the prime minister – Kuwait has a new government, albeit one with only two new faces. Many MPs have responded angrily to what is in effect a minor reshuffle rather than a new government, with 12 parliamentarians staging a walkout at the National Assembly ceremony to swear in the new cabinet.
Issue 845, 16 January 2009. more
Kuwaiti government caves in to populist calls by cancelling KDow deal
The breakdown of the deal between The Dow Chemical Company and Petrochemical Industries Company – in which the Kuwaiti state-owned PIC would take a 50% stake in the United States’ largest chemicals group for around $9bn in return for the Americans developing the emirate’s downstream value-added via the KDow joint venture – is unsurprising. Not only does the harsh global financial climate make the deal unattractive (Dow’s share price has more than halved over the last 12 months), but the Popular Bloc in the National Assembly and other Kuwaiti opponents have long fought against the government’s plans to open up the upstream and downstream hydrocarbons sectors to foreign companies: the KDow deal would have marked a significant precedent, which the state does not appear ready for yet.
Issue 845, 16 January 2009.
more
Also see Issue 842, 5 December 2008: Some majors contemplate withdrawal as Kuwaiti projects remain elusive for IOCs; Issue 841, 21 November 2008. State takes cautious steps to satisfy investors
Iraqi and Kuwaiti navies join forces in northern Gulf coalition
When Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990, the stoutest and longest resistance came from the Kuwaiti Coast Guard (KCG). For the 12 years that separated the 1991 liberation of Kuwait until Saddam’s fall, it was the KCG that was involved in the greatest number of armed clashes and police actions against Iraqi forces. For these reasons, the late December collaborative patrolling agreement between the Iraqi Navy and the KCG is a major step forward, as the first formal military agreement between the two countries since the occupation nearly 18 years ago.
Issue 845, 16 January 2009. more
TOP
Risk management report
GSN Risk Grade — C/2: Political environment hinders reform progress as new government awaited
Issue 843, 19 December 2008. more
Gulf Bank secured, but Kuwaitis still face hard thinking
Shaken by a run on deposits at Gulf Bank, and a subsequent slump in stock market confidence, Kuwaiti investors may yet draw modest comfort from an apparently harsh assessment by the international ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service.* In a recent report, Moody’s described the outlook for credit conditions as “stable to negative” – normally a tough verdict, but one that appears rather measured by current international standards and which may offer reassurance after a traumatic few weeks.
Issue 840, 7 November 2008. more
Kuwaiti tribes fight to defend political influence
Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed’s administration is feeling the heat from defenders of traditional politics.
Months after the government deployed police to break-up tribal primaries in the run-up to this year’s general election, Interior Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Khalid Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is the target of a renewed attack by parliament’s tribal members. MPs have sent him a list of questions and even called for his resignation. And while their campaign seems unlikely to succeed in removing Sheikh Jaber, it highlights the enduring strength of tribes such as the Al-Awazem, Al-Mutairi and Al-Enezi in national politics, despite a reform of the constituency system that was designed to curb their influence (GSN 830/1).
Issue 841, 21 November 2008. more
Sheikh Salem’s frankness forces Al-Sabah family rifts on Kuwait’s political agenda
Rarely have the internal affairs of a modern ruling family been so publicly debated, putting the nature of Al-Sabah rule on the wider political agenda. Succession issues remain unresolved, but the longer-term signs are that Kuwait is looking to a new social/political compact to regulate how the ruling family and wider political system interact.
Issue 767, 14 October 2005. more
Kuwait’s determined premier pushes on, despite attacks on flagship liberal woman minister
Nouriya Al-Sabeeh looks far from safe, as Islamists gear up for another ministerial grilling, but the wider reform drive should continue as the parliamentary opposition lacks coherence on most non-social policy issues.
Issue 839, 24 October 2008. more
Risk management report
Emir urges unity, reform, as parliament reconvenes for make or break year
Issue 839, 24 October 2008. more
Court annuls two MPs’ election
MPs have called for an investigation into procedures at the 17 May legislative elections, after a Constitutional Court ruling annulled the election of two MPs over discrepancies with the vote count.
Issue 837, 26 September 2008. more
Kuwaiti minnow KEC maintains frontier E&P focus, plans further expansion and London listing
Kuwait Energy Company has purchased Oil Search’s assets in Egypt and Yemen, and announced an agreement with the Somali government, underlining chief executive Sara Akbar’s determination to make the Kuwait-based indie a significant player in emerging hydrocarbons frontiers. A London listing is expected in 2009.
Issue 835, 1 September 2008. more
Al-Zour refinery further delayed
The 615,000 b/d Al-Zour oil refinery, expected to be one of the world’s largest, is facing further delays after the cabinet agreed to refer the project to the State Audit Bureau of Kuwait (SABK) for investigation in response to protests against signing the final contracts by opposition members in the Popular Action Bloc.
Issue 835, 1 September 2008. more
Kuwaiti role in Iraqi jihad gives cause for concern
The proportion of Kuwaiti fighters in Iraq has typically been considered to be tiny – a mere 1% according to AQI records captured by the United States late last year – so there was understandable concern when the Iraqi government recently announced the identification of 25 Kuwaiti fighters in Diyala province, one of AQI’s last remaining strongholds in Iraq.
Issue 834, 23 July 2008.more
Risk management report
Government will try yet again to force major reforms through parliament.
Issue 834, 23 July 2008. more
Al-Sabah rifts at the heart of transparency battle
Rivalries within Kuwait’s ruling family have burst into the political struggle over efforts to promote transparency and finally bring justice in a KD150m ($520m) corruption case dating back to the early 1990s, in which former oil minister Sheikh Ali Al-Khalifa Al-Athbi Al-Sabah has been accused of involvement.
Issue 809, 6 July 2007. more
Stalemate as sectarian blocs emerge strengthened in Kuwait
The Mugnieh protest affair soured the atmosphere in Kuwait, and while electoral reform reinforced political groups over tribal interests in the emirate’s much-anticipated general election, moderate Islamists lost ground to conservatives – and economic issues were marginalised.
Issue 830, 2 June 2008. more (Also see Kuwait after the election: the balance of forces and Kuwait National Assembly line-up after 17 May elections)
Maliki moderation is the Kuwaiti state’s religious benchmark
Compulsion should not be the route to promotion of Islamic values in Kuwait, the chair man of the government’s National Sharia Committee insisted in an interview. At a time when controversy over gender segregation at university and local Shiite attitudes to Hizbollah have put religious issues centre stage in public debate, senior officials of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs were keen to reassert a tone of calm moderation in conversation with GSN (GSN 825/5, 824/6).
Issue 829, 19 May 2008. more
Uncertain outcome as troubled Kuwaitis return to the ballot box
Faced with social tensions and exhausted by political logjams, voters hope for a fresh start. But no one can tell whether the reformed electoral system will be able to deliver a genuine political breakthrough.
Issue 826, 7 April 2008. more
Reaction to Mughnieh’s death stirs anger and memory for Kuwaitis
Cool heads are called for as two Shia MPs’ attendance at a memorial rally for the assassinated Hizbollah commander has provoked public fury, creating a platform for the intolerant in an increasingly polarised Kuwait.
Issue 824, 3 March 2008. more (Also see issue 822, 1 February 2008: Kuwait sees sectarian tension as Sunni extremism comes under the spotlight)
Kuwaiti critics blink in the face of defiant woman minister
Nouriyah Al-Subaih owes her survival in office to personal ability, social change – and the clout of Kuwait’s recently enfranchised female electorate. Her successful battle of recent weeks to survive in office shows not only an indomitable spirit – it may also signal a shift in Kuwait’s political dynamics.
Issue 822, 4 February 2008. more
2010 Kuwait archive
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