Kuwait deposes ailing emir

KUWAIT CITY – It was a painful and public struggle as Kuwait’s parliament and Cabinet stepped in Tuesday to end an unprecedented leadership dispute in a country where tribal honor and ruling family prerogative run deep.

Shortly after parliament voted unanimously to oust the ailing emir, who had ascended the throne just nine days earlier, the Cabinet named Prime Minister Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah to take power in the oil-rich U.S. ally.

Despite the embarrassment of an open quarrel within the ruling family, the leadership change served as a clear sign of the growing political maturity – if not full-blown democracy – in this tiny slice of the Mideast.

The appointment of Sheik Sabah, half brother to the emir who died Jan. 15, still requires approval by parliament, where he reportedly enjoys unanimous support. A vote was expected early next week.

The Al Sabah family has run Kuwait since the emirate – wedged between Iraq and Saudi Arabia – was created about 250 years ago.

Kuwaitis seldom questioned the ruling family’s decisions until about two years ago, when concerns over succession were set in motion by the infirmity of those in power – the late emir Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah and his crown prince, Sheik Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah, who was deposed Tuesday.

The unprecedented vote by the Kuwaiti legislature came just moments before it received a letter of abdication from Sheik Saad, according to the parliament speaker, Jassem al-Kharafi.

In the end, all members of the ruling family reportedly agreed on Sheik Sabah.