Kuwaiti National Council Meets; Opposition Calls It a Fig Leaf

Kuwait’s National Council opened Tuesday in what government officials hailed as the first step toward democracy, but the opposition criticized it as a fig leaf concealing the Sabah dynasty’s absolute rule.

“I think it’s a good start. It’s a legitimate thing when you have 50 members elected by the people . . . and it will serve to bring up a loud debate inside Kuwait,” said Sheik Nasser al Sabah al Ahmed al Sabah, a leading member of the emirate’s ruling family.

But the opposition said the body has no legal standing under Kuwait’s 1962 constitution, and even some council members were worried that the body will be shunted aside as a simple advisory board that the government will not heed.

The National Council includes 50 members voted into office in June, 1990, and 25 chosen by the emir, Sheik Jabbar al Ahmed al Sabah. It met only once before Iraq’s Aug. 2, 1990, invasion, but it was designated to replace a Parliament that was dissolved in 1986.

In his opening address, the emir said the council should work hard on reconstruction until parliamentary elections are held in October, 1992.

“We can’t celebrate Kuwait’s liberation fully until all prisoners of war are reunited with their families,” the emir said, referring to more than 2,000 Kuwaitis still detained in Iraq.

The council spent its first day electing committee members, breaking at midday for a sumptuous meal that included several whole sheep.

Also on Tuesday, Kuwait expelled about 300 Iraqis--the largest group escorted across the border since the government reached an agreement with the Red Cross on new guidelines for deportations. Hundreds of Palestinians, Jordanians, Yemenis, stateless Arabs and others had been deported earlier.