the Emir and thirteenth Sheikh of Kuwait, serving from 31 December 1977 until his death on 15 January 2006
Background
Sheikh Al-Sabah Jaber al-Ahmad al-Jaber was born in 1928 in Kuwait in Kuwait City. He is the third son of Sheikh Ahmed I Al-Sabah.
The Emir of Kuwait is modest, reserved, benevolent and highly punctual. He estimates close people judging by their deeds and moral principles. He prefers listening to talking and shows genuine attention to his interlocutor. He is considered to the most intelligent monarch of Persian Gulf. The Sheikh has passion for gardening. He is keen on riding. Under his patronage camel races are held. Most of all he speaks Arabian, but has a brilliant command of English.
For all citizens of Kuwait Sheikh Al-Sabah Jaber is the father of the nation. To him belongs the last word in tribal controversies, he eliminates disagreements between different governmental structural unit of management. An appointed crown prince helps him to solve many problems.
His fortune is estimated at 5 billions of dollars. The sheikh has been married for many times. He has 23 sons. Some sources of information say that the sheikh has 13 wives and 39 children. His first son was born in 1945 and the first daughter – after 1977.
Education
He is the third son of Sheikh Ahmed I Al-Sabah. At the beginning the future ruler studied at local schools, later attended private Palestinian teachers (they are considered to be the most educated people in Kuwait). There he studied Arabian and English languages, history and economics.
Career
In 1949, a year to the death of his father, Al-Sabah was appointed to the position of the head of security services in Al Ahmadi, the city of oil refining. Then he became the head of the Department of Finance, which was transformed later into the Department of Finance and Oil. At the same time he was the main Adviser to the Emir, who dealt with the distribution of land for housing construction, organized financial market and was engaged in attracting foreign investments.
On 31 May, 1966 Al-Sabah was proclaimed the crown prince and on 31 December, 1977 he became Emir Jaber II, the thirteenth Emir of Kuwait. The Sabahs dynasty is the ruling dynasty from the middle of XVIII century. According to the tradition Emir must be a direct descendant of Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah, who ruled the country from 1896 and considered to be the founder of the modern Kuwait.
The Emir can’t forgive himself that he didn’t believe American intelligence service, which reported about the planned Iraq attack. During the Iraqi aggression against Kuwait in 1990-1991’s the Emir was in exile in Saudi Arabia and remained the avatar of struggle against invaders. When he returned the whole nation came out to meet him. 600 oil derricks were in fire, there were no electricity, no water and no communication service. However the Emir was able to cope with it. Regardless of this huge damage inflicted by the war, Kuwait managed to rebuild quickly. Today the country is on the list of the ten most leading countries in terms of the level of per capita income.
