By Diana Elias
Associated Press
Sunday, January 15, 2006

KUWAIT CITY, Jan. 15 -- Sheik Jabir Ahmed Sabah, the emir of Kuwait who survived an assassination attempt in the 1980s and a decade later escaped Iraqi troops invading his oil-rich Persian Gulf state, died Sunday, state television announced.

The sheik, who had been ailing since suffering a brain hemorrhage five years ago, was 79.

Crown Prince Saad Abdullah Sabah, a distant cousin chosen by the emir as his heir apparent in 1978, will take over as ruler of the tiny oil-rich country -- a key American ally in the Middle East. He is 75 years old and has colon problems.

The government announced a 40-day period of mourning and said government offices would be closed for three days beginning Sunday.

Sheik Jabir became a close friend of the United States even before American forces led the fight to liberate his country in 1991. Kuwait served as the major launching point for the U.S.-led invasion 12 years later when American troops drove to Baghdad and toppled Saddam Hussein.

Kuwait has remained reliant on U.S. forces for defense, and the close alliance is likely to continue under Sheik Saad. The Sabah family has ruled Kuwait for more than 250 years.

After a Shiite Muslim extremist tried to assassinate Sheik Jabir in a suicide car bombing in May 1985, the emir abruptly changed his habits. He stopped driving his own car to bazaars and cut down on public appearances. He did not like traveling abroad, though he went for medical treatment.

He suffered a brain hemorrhage in 2001 and was treated in London. On the rare occasions since then when he appeared in public, he had difficulty delivering speeches.

Born in 1926 before Kuwait became rich exporting oil and educated by private tutors in his family's palace, Sheik Jabir was considered a father figure to many Kuwaitis who generally were fond and respectful of the emir.

Despite the wealth and well-consolidated family rule, he was considered a quiet listener who avoided ostentation.

Before the 1990-91 crisis over the Iraqi invasion, Sheik Jabir and his family presided over an affluent but tightly controlled society. Sheik Jabir dissolved parliament in 1986 for severely criticizing the government. He did not restore it until 1992, a year after Iraqi troops were driven out.

The United States, trying to sell allies on joining the international coalition that ultimately forced Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait, pressed the ruling family to institute or return some democratic institutions to Kuwait.

The emir dissolved parliament again in 1999, saying lawmakers misused their constitutional rights. A new public vote was held just two months later.

Sheik Jabir won the praise and gratitude of human rights activists when he decreed in 1999 that women should have the vote and be eligible to run for office. However, conservatives and fundamentalist Muslims formed a parliamentary alliance that repeatedly kept his decree from being put into practice.

He could have disbanded parliament to press his view, but did not. Six years later, in May 2005, parliament finally approved the legislation supported by the emir.