Sabah, Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad al-

▪ 2007

 Kuwaiti royal (b. June 29, 1926, Kuwait City, Kuwait—d. Jan. 15, 2006, Kuwait City), as a member of the ruling Sabah family, a government minister (1949–65), prime minister (1965–77), and emir (1977–2006), was a central figure in Kuwait's growth from a tiny British protectorate into an influential oil-rich nation. Sheikh Jabir was the third son of Sheikh Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah, who ruled Kuwait from 1921 to 1950. When Iraq claimed sovereignty over newly independent Kuwait in 1961, Sheikh Jabir led a delegation to the Arab League to negotiate a settlement. He became prime minister in November 1965, and the following year he was formally designated crown prince and heir apparent to his cousin Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Salim al-Sabah. By the early 1970s the ailing emir had handed over most of the government operations to Sheikh Jabir, and upon Sheikh Sabah's death, on Dec. 31, 1977, Sheikh Jabir succeeded him. As emir, Sheikh Jabir stressed unity among Arab countries, but Kuwait became caught in the cross fire of the Iran-Iraq War (1980–90), and in 1985 he narrowly escaped injury in a car-bomb attack. He also dealt with internal dissent, particularly from Kuwait's Shiʿite minority, and with opposition from the National Assembly, which he formally dissolved twice (1986–90 and 1999). When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, Sheikh Jabir escaped to Saudi Arabia, where he headed a government-in-exile until March 1991. In 2001 Sheikh Jabir suffered a stroke and retired from public life.

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