KUWAIT: Kuwaitis elected a new Parliament that is expected to be more cooperative with the government than its predecessor after an opposition boycott of the poll and protests that divided the Gulf Arab state.
The election was the second this year in the oil-rich state, where a series of assemblies have collapsed due to a long-running power struggle between the elected parliament and the cabinet, in which the ruling family holds top posts.
Turnout was 40.3 percent for the poll on Saturday, according to initial figures cited by the Information Ministry, the lowest since and including the first general election held in 1963. Participation in the past three elections was about 60 percent.
The opposition refused to stand in the election, saying a new voting system introduced by the ruling emir would prevent its candidates winning the majority they secured in the last vote in February.
Kuwait’s stock index rallied early on Sunday as investors showed confidence the government would be able to follow through on plans to develop the economy now the opposition was out of the National Assembly.
The political turmoil has held up economic reforms and investment, including a 30 billion dinar ($108 billion) development plan aimed at diversifying the heavily oil-reliant economy and attracting foreign investment.
“It is a pro-government parliament. Now the government can do all the things it wanted to, which it said it was prevented from doing. The question now is, will it do it?” said Kuwait University professor of political science Shafeeq Ghabra.
“While it has a parliament that does not oppose it, there is a population which is on the opposition’s side,” he said, referring to the turnout and protests. “The formula has got more complicated.”
More than half of the candidates elected were new to the 50-seat parliament. Shiite candidates won about a third of seats, Kuwaiti media reported. Shiite MPs have tended to be more supportive of the government than the opposition in the past. Female candidates were elected to three seats.
“The election result is the foundation for a new start of development and cooperation between the legislative and executive powers to advance Kuwait and all its people,” Information Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah said.
The election was divisive due to the change to voting rules announced six weeks ago by emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, which cut the number of votes per citizen to one from four.
Tens of thousands marched on Friday in what organizers said was the largest protest in Kuwaiti history, to urge people to shun the ballot box in protest at the reform which they said would skew the outcome in favor of pro-government candidates.
The opposition, which includes Islamists, tribal politicians, liberals and leftists, won two-thirds of seats in the National Assembly 10 months ago and formed a bloc that put pressure on the government, forcing two ministers from office. That parliament was dissolved after a June court ruling. The government said opposition lawmakers used parliament to settle scores rather than helping pass laws needed for economic development. Opposition politicians accused the government of mismanagement and called for an elected cabinet.
Political parties are banned and the affiliations of many of those who stood in the election were unclear, although analysts said the fact they ran in the poll meant they were likely to be more sympathetic to the government than the opposition.
Kuwait, a US ally, has the most open political system among the Gulf Arab states with a parliament that has legislative powers and the ability to scrutinize ministers.
But the emir’s Al-Sabah family, which has ruled for 250 years, holds the main government portfolios and Sheikh Sabah has the final say in state matters.
Kuwait elects new Parliament
Kuwait elects new Parliament
Militia detains 300 migrants in the desert in Libya’s effort to contain sea crossings
The apprehensions come as Libya remains a primary point of departure for men, women and children from the Middle East and Africa aiming to reach Europe
TRIPOLI: Libyan military officials said Monday they apprehended hundreds of migrants traversing the country’s vast desert hoping to ultimately cross the Mediterranean Sea in pursuit of a better life in Europe.
The 444 Brigade, a powerful militia group that operates under the auspices of the Libyan army, said in a statement that its patrolling commanders detained more than 300 migrants and referred them to authorities.
The group in a post on Facebook condemned smuggling and human trafficking and said its patrols would continue efforts to block smuggling routes. It posted satellite images of the desert and pictures of what appeared to be migrants sitting in rows in front of armed and masked militants.
The apprehensions come as Libya remains a primary point of departure for men, women and children from the Middle East and Africa aiming to reach Europe. Many are escaping war or poverty and many employ smugglers to help them negotiate treacherous deserts and sea routes. Roughly 38,000 people have arrived in Italy and Malta from Libya this year, according to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency.
The overcrowded boats used by migrants and smugglers are known to routinely capsize and a key priority for European leaders has been to encourage North African countries to prevent migrants from reaching the sea. But unlike in Morocco and Tunisia — where tens of thousands of migrants also attempt to pass through en route to the southern shores of Europe — fighting between rival governments in Libya has added additional challenges to migration management partnerships.
Migrant apprehensions are rarely reported in Libya, though the country’s state news service LANA reported more than 2,000 arrests in July.
The oil-rich country plunged into turmoil after a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi. Since then, the country has been divided between dueling governments in the east and west, each backed by militias and foreign powers. Human traffickers have for years benefited from the political chaos.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in July said migrants in the country had been subjected to torture, forced labor and starvation while being detained.
Major food aid ‘scale-up’ underway to famine-hit Sudan, WFP says
- “In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month,” said WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli
- The WFP fleet will be clearly labelled in the hope that access will be facilitated
GENEVA: More than 700 trucks are on their way to famine-stricken areas of Sudan as part of a major scale-up after clearance came through from the Sudanese government, a World Food Programme spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in conflict since April 2023 that has caused acute hunger and disease across the country. Both sides are accused of impeding aid deliveries, the RSF by looting and the army by bureaucratic delays.
“In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month,” WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli told a press briefing in Geneva.
“We’ve received around 700 clearances from the government in Sudan, from the Humanitarian Aid Commission, to start to move and transport assistance to some of these hard-to-reach areas,” she added, saying the start of the dry season was another factor enabling the scale-up.
The WFP fleet will be clearly labelled in the hope that access will be facilitated, she said.
Some of the food is intended for 14 areas of the country that face famine or are at risk of famine, including Zamzam camp in the Darfur region.
The first food arrived there on Friday prompting cheers from crowds of people who had resorted to eating crushed peanut shells normally fed to animals, Kinzli said.
A second convoy for the camp is currently about 300 km (186 miles) away, she said.
On Monday, the head of Sudan’s sovereign council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, said he would allow the airports in El Obeid, Kadugli, and Damazine — army-controlled areas isolated by the fighting — to serve as humanitarian hubs for UN agencies to facilitate deliveries.
Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs
- A strike on Beirut hit the Noueiri district with no evacuation warning and killed at least one person, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a preliminary toll
BEIRUT: Israeli strikes pounded a densely-populated part of the Lebanese capital and its southern suburbs on Tuesday, hours ahead of an anticipated announcement of a ceasefire ending hostilities between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
A strike on Beirut hit the Noueiri district with no evacuation warning and killed at least one person, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a preliminary toll.
Minutes later, at least 10 Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs. They began approximately 30 minutes after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for 20 locations in the area, the largest such warning yet.
As the strikes were under way, Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the air force was conducting a “widespread attack” on Hezbollah targets across the city.
Germany says Lebanon ceasefire ‘within reach’
FIUGGI, Italy: Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Tuesday that an agreement on a proposed ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon was “within reach.”
“A ceasefire and steps toward a political solution along the lines of UN Resolution 1701 are within reach thanks to direct US and French mediation,” Baerbock told reporters on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Italy.
Prospect of Lebanon ceasefire leaves Gazans feeling abandoned
CAIRO: The prospect of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah without a similar deal with Hamas in Gaza has left Palestinians feeling abandoned and fearful that Israel will focus squarely on its onslaught in the enclave.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing missiles at Israel in solidarity with Hamas after the Palestinian militant group attacked Israel in October of 2023, triggering the Gaza war.
Hostilities in Lebanon have drastically escalated in the last two months, with Israel stepping up airstrikes and sending in ground forces to Lebanon’s south and Hezbollah sustaining rocket fire on Israel.
Now Israel looks set to approve a US plan for a ceasefire with Hezbollah when its security cabinet meets on Tuesday, while Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib expressed hope that a ceasefire would be reached by Tuesday night.
While diplomacy focuses on Lebanon, Palestinians feel let down by the world after 14 months of conflict which has devastated the Gaza Strip and killed more than 44,000 people. “It showed Gaza is an orphan, with no support and no mercy from the unjust world,” said Abdel-Ghani, a father of five who only gave a first name.
“I am angry against the world that has failed to bring one solution to the two regions,” Abdel-Ghani. “Maybe, there will be another deal for Gaza, maybe.”
An Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire without a deal for Gaza would be a blow to Hamas, whose leaders had hoped the expansion of the war into Lebanon would pressure Israel to reach a comprehensive ceasefire. Hezbollah had insisted that it would not agree to a ceasefire until the war in Gaza ends, but it dropped that condition.
“We had high hopes that Hezbollah would remain steadfast until the end but it seems they couldn’t,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman, who like most Gazans has been displaced from his home. “We are afraid the Israeli army will now have a free hand in Gaza.”
While a Lebanon deal could leave some Hezbollah commanders in place after Israel killed the heavily armed group’s veteran leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and his successor, Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas completely.
“We hoped the expansion of the war meant one solution for all, but we were left alone in the face of the monstrous (Israeli) occupation,” said Zakeya Rezik, 56, a mother of six.
“Enough is enough, we are exhausted. How many more had to die before they stopped the war? Gaza war must stop, the people are being wiped out, starved, and bombed every day.”
