Ailing Kuwaiti Emir Is Ousted
Parliament ousted Kuwait’s ailing emir, Sheik Saad al Abdullah al Sabah, on Tuesday, and the Cabinet named Prime Minister Sheik Sabah al Ahmed al Sabah to take over temporarily.
The appointment was widely expected and approval of the move is anticipated in parliament, where the newly named leader has broad support. He needs only a simple majority vote, which is expected early next week.
The prime minister is a half brother of longtime ruler Sheik Jabbar al Ahmed al Sabah, who died Jan. 15.
The Al Sabah family has run Kuwait since the emirate -- wedged between Iraq and Saudi Arabia -- was created about 250 years ago.
Two years ago, concerns over succession were set in motion by the infirmity of those in power: Jabbar and the crown prince, Saad.
Since Jabbar’s death, his successor had only been seen in public in a wheelchair and he had not spoken to the country.
Sabah has run day-to-day affairs since the two fell ill.
The unprecedented vote by the Kuwaiti legislature came moments before it received a letter of abdication from Saad, according to the parliament speaker, Jassem al Kharafi.
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