Kuwait to Issue New ID Cards to Reduce Illegals
The government of Kuwait plans to issue new identity cards to residents and re-register its entire population to weed out illegal aliens and reduce the number of foreigners, Cabinet officials and diplomats said Friday.
Planning Minister Salman Abdul-Razek Mutawa said new cards will be issued to all who held one Aug. 1, the eve of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, including those who were abroad at the time or fled during the seven-month Iraqi occupation.
In a separate move, a census would probably be held before the end of this year, he said.
“The population records are intact as of Aug. 1, 1990, when the total was 2.2 million, of whom 28% were Kuwaitis,” Mutawa said.
Iraq began to try to settle Kuwait, which it annexed as its 19th province, and some officials worry that there may still be people in the country who moved in during the occupation.
Diplomats said the government probably also intends to use registration as a lever to get rid of many foreign nationals, including Palestinians--the largest expatriate community before the invasion, with about 400,000 members. Some Palestinians sympathized with Iraq during the war, and the Palestine Liberation Organization backed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
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