Kuwaiti Youths Rally for Third Week to Oust PM
Thousands of youth activists have rallied for the removal of Kuwait's prime minister, pushing the oil-rich Gulf state closer toward political turmoil.
"The people want to topple the prime minister," chanted more than 3,000 protesters who rallied late Friday night for the third straight week, braving temperatures close to 40 degrees Celsius in the desert state.
Speakers called on the emir to remove Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah and put an end to bitter feuding among members of the Al-Sabah ruling family.
"A dangerous (power) struggle is taking place among members of the ruling family. Their disputes and struggles will certainly negatively impact us," liberal MP Abdulrahman al-Anjari told the crowd.
"I am afraid that if no real constitutional reforms are implemented, these disputes will spread like cancer.
We have to contemplate adopting constitutional monarchy," Anjari said.
Kuwaiti media on Friday urged Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahamd Al-Sabah to put an end to a power struggle between the prime minister and his deputy Sheikh Ahamd Fahad Al-Sabah following a stormy parliamentary session on Tuesday.
During the session, MPs said to be close to the prime minister voted against a request by Sheikh Ahmad to refer a grilling against him to a parliamentary panel to investigate whether it breached the constitution.
Speakers at the rally however said both of the officials should be sacked. They also called for the government to be dismissed, parliament's dissolution and for snap elections to be held.
OPEC member Kuwait has been rocked by a series of political disputes over the past five years which have been blamed in part on squabbling within the ruling family.
In 2006, a power struggle among the al-Sabahs resulted in an unprecedented vote by parliament to remove the then emir, Sheikh Saad Abdullah al-Sabah, on health grounds.
Since February 2006 when Sheikh Nasser became a prime minister, six cabinets have resigned and parliament has been dissolved three times amid high political tension that stalled development in this wealthy state.
The ruling family has run the affairs of Kuwait since it came into existence more than 250 years ago, and Kuwaitis have seldom questioned their continuing rule.
The emir, crown prince and the prime minister are all from the family, which also controls the key ministerial portfolios of defense, interior, and foreign affairs.
Source: Agence France Presse
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