Search results

Is there ever an endgame to Kuwait’s perpetual political standoffs – and to the impacts these intra-family and societal squabbles for power have on slowing the pace of economic reform and efforts to overcome troublesome social divisions? The latest dramas suggest domination by the ruling family’s Al-Jaber branch is under new strain, from within the Al-Sabah, as well as from other Kuwaitis concerned at a decline in the emirate’s traditional consultative decision-making.

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has called on Iran to agree the maritime boundary along the eastern edge of the Neutral Zone shared between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Kuwaiti oil minister Mohammed Al-Fares and his Saudi counterpart Prince Abdelaziz Bin Salman have signed an agreement to develop the offshore Dorra gas field in their shared Neutral Zone. However, the deal is immersed in controversy due to objections from Iran, which said the field extends into its waters.

Fallout from the Army Fund case continues to dominate the Kuwaiti political scene, adding to tensions between the government and National Assembly, and within the ruling Al-Sabah family. Also stoking passions are a cabinet decision to increase the retirement age by three years to 65 and further court action against opponents.

GSN Risk Grade: B↓2↓ PM grilling: A grilling of Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah over alleged irregularities in running state affairs, including embezzlement of public funds, is due to take place in the National Assembly (parliament) on 29 March.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces was widely expected, but most Gulf states were slow to make any public statements in response as they sought to avoid taking sides between the US – which remains the region’s most important international player for all its reduced enthusiasm for policing the Gulf – and Russia, which is an important ally in setting oil prices, selling military equipment and providing a model of 21st century autocracy. Amid the muted rhetoric, clear differences have appeared between GCC states.

GSN examines how commentators, columnists and opposition voices have reacted to Russia's Ukraine war through social media channels and the region's newspapers.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent already strong oil prices spiralling upwards, with a show of Opec+ solidarity that underlines just how close Saudi-Russian relations have become. Oil and gas producers are among the likely big winners, with Gulf governments offered a new path to balance their budgets and build up their financial reserves, but other commercial relations could come under much closer scrutiny.

Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah returned from his private trip to Germany on 5 February. He had left Kuwait on 20 January, on what was presumed to have been a trip to receive further medical treatment.

Defence minister Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah and interior minister Sheikh Ahmed Mansour Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah sparked another political crisis in Kuwait, by issuing a joint resignation statement on 16 February. They said necessary reforms were impossible to achieve under the prevailing political circumstances.

A scandal over healthcare procurement during the Covid-19 pandemic is threatening to break out and bring with it further discord between the National Assembly (parliament) and Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah’s government – which has already seen two ministerial resignations in the latest phase of Kuwait’s political crisis.

The government is to send a delegation to Romania to follow up on the case of Kuwaiti businessman Mohammed Al-Baghli.

Foreign minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Sabah survived a vote of no confidence by members of parliament (MPs) on 16 February. The vote was held after a tense grilling of the minister on 8 February by MP Shuaib Al-Muwaizri, who criticised Sheikh Ahmed over irregularities at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), which were highlighted by a State Audit Bureau report.

Justice minister Jamal Al-Jalawi has come under pressure from members of parliament (MPs) over an extradition agreement signed with the UK in 2017 to bring disgraced former Public Institution for Social Security director Fahad Al-Rajaan back to Kuwait.

Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (Kufpec) on 23 January announced a commercial gas condensate find in Indonesia – the company’s first operated offshore exploration discovery.