Exiles Vow to Finish ’91 at Home in Liberated Kuwait : New Year: Thousands now living in Egypt gather at Pyramids, sing national anthem and ask help to oust Iraqi invaders.

The New Year dawned in exile today for thousands of Kuwaitis assembled at the Pyramids of Egypt, but amid prayers for peace and the uneasy prospect of war, Kuwait’s refugees vowed to finish the year in a liberated Kuwait.

“We have to do this in order to show Saddam Hussein that although he has occupied our country, he did not occupy our will,” said Youssef Jassem, co-organizer of the midnight vigil that drew more than 2,000 Kuwaitis together for a moment of silence and prayers at the dawn of the new year.

In Cairo, where an estimated 50,000 Kuwaitis make up the world’s third-largest concentration of Kuwaiti exiles, support groups sought to dispel images of a nation of moneyed refugees idling in luxury abroad while the world perches on the brink of war at their borders.

Thousands chose to ring in the New Year battling a bone-chilling desert wind at the foot of the Sphinx, said Jassem, “to show the whole world that Kuwaitis are not living these days but for their country.”

“Every year the whole world greets the New Year with celebrations. We want to remind the people of the world that we are either scattered throughout the world or still in Kuwait, subject to inhuman treatment and torture,” added Balkees Najjar, another organizer of the event.

“We chose here the Pyramids, a symbol of strength and resistance throughout the years,” she said.

As a full moon swathed the rough stone of Cheops and the desert sands in a luminous glow, Kuwaitis began softly singing their national anthem and parading placards pleading for liberation.

“Kuwait will remain dignified until the intruders leave,” one placard said. “We will never feel satisfied and never feel terrified, insisting to die for Kuwait until our homeland you leave.” Another poster depicted a cartoonish Saddam Hussein with the word “Wanted” below it.

In Cairo, second only to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the number of Kuwaitis living in exile, volunteer groups have opened schools for Kuwaiti children, operating two shifts a day. Other groups staff a clinic for Kuwaitis and provide first aid training, counseling, sports programs and research efforts for promoting the Kuwaiti cause abroad. A class of military volunteers just completed training and is moving on for deployment in Saudi Arabia.

“Of course, the obvious hope for Kuwaitis now is either Saddam dies or he withdraws; there isn’t anything else we can hope for,” said Hiba Atiqi, 19, who fled Kuwait with most of her family on Dec. 1 but left her father behind.

“At first, I was hoping there would be a war,” she added. “When I was in Kuwait, I couldn’t wait. Then, I realized if war is going to happen, Kuwait will be at an end. But I think now, anything to free Kuwait. Even my dad’s life. Anything.”

Dina Saleh left nearly all of her family behind but gets occasional letters and phone calls when they travel to Baghdad. “Of course, they can’t say much--’We’re OK, we’re fine, don’t worry about us, we worry about you.’ But they want to stay in Kuwait no matter what. They say, ‘It’s our country. If we don’t stay, who’s going to stay?’ ”

As the midnight hour approached, 10-year-old Wafa climbed to the microphone and began reading a statement in a tremulous voice. Wafa, her mother said, has been unable to forget the day she watched her neighbors being loaded into a van by Iraqi soldiers and, even safe now in Cairo, still wakes screaming at night. “I wish the Americans could let Kuwait be free,” Wafa said.

A girl named Rabah grabbed a journalist by the arm. “Please,” she said, “I heard the Americans, I heard there are some Americans who don’t want Bush to send more troops to the gulf. I just want to say. . . . “ She broke off for a moment, searching for the right words in English. “Please, you are our hope to free Kuwait. Help us, if they could, and maybe sometime, maybe there will be a time we will help them.”