Kuwait (Government) - The contributions didn´t keep Iraq from overrunning Kuweit, an occupation that lasted seven months

Kuwait - Government

Kuwait pictures Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah became emir of Kuwait in 1977.

The contributions didn´t keep Iraq from overrunning Kuwait in August 1990, an occupation that lasted seven months before Kuwait was liberated and the Sabah family restored to power on Feb. 28, 1991.

Of all the Gulf states, Kuwait has been most vulnerable to regional disruption. Immediately after independence, British troops (soon replaced by an Arab League force) were dispatched to support the country against the territorial claim by Iraq.

The force remained until 1963, and relations between Kuwait and Iraq were stable until 1973, when Iraqi troops occupied a Kuwaiti outpost on their joint border. Substantial financial donations to Iraq subsequently ensured Kuwait´s territorial security.

Kuwait was active in its support of the Arab cause after the Arab-Israeli war of June 1967, giving financial assistance to ´front-line´ Arab countries and major Palestinian organizations. In the Arab-Israeli war of October 1973 Kuwaiti troops stationed along the Suez Canal were involved in military engagements.

During 1973 and 1974 Kuwait played a leading role in restricting petroleum supplies to pro-Israeli Western countries. Kuwait condemned the 1978 Camp David agreements between Egypt and Israel, and diplomatic relations between Kuwait and Egypt were suspended between April 1979 and November 1987.

Sheikh Jabir Al Ahmad Al Sabah It was announced in May 1991 that a US military presence would remain in Kuwait until September, by which time, it was envisaged, regional defence arrangements would be complete.

However, attempts to establish a force comprising troops from the six GCC states, in co-operation with contingents from Egypt and Syria, enjoyed little success, and in August the USA announced that it would maintain 1,500 troops in Kuwait for several more months.

In September a 10-year agreement on military co-operation was signed by the US and Kuwaiti Governments.
The agreement permitted the storage of US supplies and equipment in Kuwait, and provided for joint military training and exercises.

In February 1992 Kuwait signed a defence accord with the United Kingdom, encompassing training, joint military exercises and the supply of military equipment. A similar agreement was concluded with France in August.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian population of Kuwait, which had totalled an estimated 400,000 prior to the Iraqi invasion, was estimated to have declined to less than 50,000 by early 1992.

Continuing international criticism of its failure to protect human rights prompted the Kuwaiti Government, in the second half of 1991, to take measures to prevent clandestine deportations of alleged collaborators and to permit international supervision of the expulsion of foreign nationals.

However, it was widely believed that Kuwait had been motivated to curb its abuses of human rights primarily in an attempt to obtain international support for its efforts to secure the release of Kuwaiti nationals who were being detained in Iraq. Censorship of some sections of the press was relaxed in January 1992.