The late Kuwait Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s absence will always remain a source of deep sadness. Rather, it will remain a loss of wisdom, vision, and a deep sense for human sublimity in the region and many of the countries in conflict worldwide, which need his approach to building relationships based on humanism in the deep sense.
The most substantial phrase uttered by Napoleon Bonaparte is: “I make my battle plans from my sleeping soldiers’ dreams.” Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad always based his plans and initiatives on the dreams for a better tomorrow of the tormented, and even those who are engaged in conflicts around the world. Thus when former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave his remarks at a grand ceremony on September 9, 2014, he said: “The Kuwaiti sate’s heart has always been bigger than all the crises of poverty and disease, and the philosophy of peace led by Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of the State of Kuwait, is more significant than all the conflicts and problems between states”. Sheikh Sabah replied, saying: “Acts of benevolence and philanthropy are inherent values in the hearts of the Kuwaiti people, as inherited generation after generation from their forefathers. The philosophy of cooperation and brotherhood, grounded in the sublime notion of humanity, is the most central and refined basis for relationships between peoples and states.
So, when the United Nations, in an unprecedented step, paid tribute to Sheikh Sabah, recognizing him as a “Global Humanitarian Leader” and Kuwait as a “Global Humanitarian Center”, this merely crowned over half a century of Sheikh Sabah’s wise policies. Nonetheless, its function, meaning, and significance constitute a call for a better world and for nations and peoples’ relationships to be based on a genuine adherence to humanitarian philosophy, on which Sheikh Sabah based Kuwait’s relations with all countries, from the neighboring Gulf states to the Arab world, the region, Asia, and the world at large.
Thus, it is not only Kuwait that lost a unique historical leader; human relations lost a teacher and sponsor. However, Kuwait’s approach will continue to be based on his message. It is a small country geographically, but it is a major country in its initiatives and its late leader’s wisely formulated initiatives and refined frameworks for diplomacy.
Consequently, the new Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah has received the mantle of wise and sublime leadership, which made Kuwait a turbine of genuine friendship that blows in every direction, a political gem that does not see its country as family, but rather sees its siblings and all the globe’s countries and part of the broad family of humanity.
The new Emir will perpetuate policies that are founded on a philosophy of reconciliation and diplomacy, the paths and basis of which his late brother has established in a conflict-ridden and inflamed region. Over the past years, he deepened Kuwait’s warm ties to its older sister, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and maintained an open line of communication with Iran. This helped him to repeatedly pursue critical initiatives to establish dialogue and understanding between the Gulf states and Tehran to end the latter’s destabilizing interventions in the region. He also made an important corrective move during this period, personally sponsoring the Iraq Reconstruction Conference in Kuwait.
Over more than half a century, Sheikh Sabah has often been referred to as “the pillar of diplomacy” all over the world, but, in practice, he was the spiritual father of peace and stability. He pursued two main paths to achieve these ends, namely, policies of reconciliation and humanitarian initiatives. Perhaps the most prominent manifestation of these policies’ importance is the US, Russian and global support for the Kuwaiti initiative for regional reconciliation and understanding, two the late Emir’s main concerns.
On August fourth, at midnight, after the catastrophic explosion that destroyed the port of Beirut at six o’clock that evening, that is, a few hours after that explosion, the Kuwait plane carrying humanitarian, which had taken off on the Emir Sheikh Sabah’s personal orders, landed in Beirut International Airport. The aid arrived in a country that Kuwait had always sent goodwill and regarded as an important center, the Western central station on the route to democracy, while Kuwait is the Eastern station.
The Kuwaiti plane landing in Beirut’s airport before the smoke had completely cleared from above the total obliterated port was no surprise, and this was perhaps what reminded me of what the late Emir had said in an interview with Al-Hawdith, while he had been foreign minister and a member of the Arab Committee for Resolving the Lebanese Crisis. “In Kuwait and the Arab League, we are only concerned with protecting Lebanon, and we safeguard it with the tears of our eyes.” For a long time, the Lebanese have known that the Kuwaiti National Fund has always been at the forefront of providing aid to Lebanon and helping it deal with the consequence of Israeli aggression and internal conflicts.
Sheikh Sabah was a unique humanitarian leader, and Kuwait will remain, under the leadership of the new Emir, Sheikh Nawaf, a pioneering center for humanitarian work. This is its policy, which has become more akin to fate and philosophy. That was why, during a short break in an international donor conference to secure aid for Syrian refugees hosted by Kuwait, I asked the Former Secretary-General United Nations Ban Ki-moon: “You have been talking about holding this conference for many months; why did you choose Kuwait to host it at the end?” He said, and I am quoting him verbatim: “We have chosen Kuwait at the end because we are relying on the comfort, encouragement, and deep respect that Sheikh Sabah induces around the world to ensure the conference’s success.” And he added, “We will not forget that Sheikh Sabah was the first person who was alerted and donated five million dollars to confront the (Ebola) virus-disease, 48 hours after it appeared in Africa.
I was present and listened to Sheikh Sabah’s speech during the Kuwaiti National Assembly’s opening session on October 28, 2015, when he warned against the dangers of consumerism and relying on oil, calling for investing in Kuwait’s human capital because Kuwaitis “are our country’s added valued." The leader's humanitarian work is gone. The man who has led the implementation of his approach and policies is to take over; thus, Kuwait’s added value will remain, and it will continue to be a center for reconciliatory policy and humanitarian initiatives.
