KUWAIT: SUNNI v SHI'ITE TENSIONS ON THE RISE

Worsening Shiite-Sunni tensions seen even in affluent, tolerant Kuwait

KUWAIT CITY – The Mideast's worsening Shiite-Sunni tensions can be seen even in Kuwait, an affluent and religiously tolerant U.S. ally where the ruler this week urged his countrymen to set aside any sectarian divisions for their own security.

Kuwait, which has a Sunni Muslim ruling family, provides its Shiite Muslim minority with an unwritten but enduring “social contract” that guarantees lucrative perks such as free education, health care and affordable housing, all subsidized by vast oil wealth. It also ensures a relatively high degree of social harmony and religious tolerance.

Under that umbrella, the minority Shiites in this tiny emirate are clearly better off than their brethren in countries like Saudi Arabia or Bahrain, who say they face discrimination.

But some Shiite leaders say the minority remains a victim of systematic, yet subtle, prejudice that is fed primarily by Sunni radicals suspected of enjoying growing influence in the government and royal court.

“Kuwait does not belong to one group only or to one sect only. It is for everybody,” ruler Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah said in an address to parliament earlier this week. “We all know how huge the responsibility of protecting (Kuwait) is.”

He urged citizens to shun “any behavior that results in division.”

The comments, which come at a time when Iraq's violence is roiling the region and Iran is taking an ever-more influential role, show the nervousness many feel about Shiite-Sunni tensions.

Shiites claim they are subjected to long delays – for as many as 20 years in some cases – in obtaining government permits to build new mosques or establish seminaries. The delays, they say, have left the Shiites – who make up 25-30 percent of the population – with about 40 mosques compared to more than 1,000 for the Sunnis.

Voters also sent only four Shiites to the 50-seat parliament in June elections, one fewer than in the outgoing house. The current 16-member Cabinet has a single Shiite, a woman.

A traditionally close U.S. ally, Kuwait is a conservative country of 1 million people where tribal and religious links are important. Although the danger of an open Shiite-Sunni rift remains remote, it cannot be entirely ruled out since members of the two sects rarely intermarry and hardly any tribes count Shiites in their ranks.

Shiite community leaders have long complained about having their allegiance to Kuwait doubted, especially in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Shiite Iran, and when Iran fought an eight-year war against Sunni-led Iraq in the 1980s.

Now, they say it's happening again because of the Shiite-Sunni rift across the border in Iraq.
Kuwait, to the dismay of its Shiites, sided with Saddam Hussein's regime in the Iran-Iraq war. Saddam then invaded Kuwait in 1990 and occupied it for seven months before a U.S.-led force threw his army out.

That invasion exonerated the Shiites' long-held suspicions of Saddam. It also gave them an opportunity to prove their loyalty to Kuwait by assuming a pivotal role in the resistance to Iraq's occupation.

“There has never been a single case of a Kuwaiti Shiite accused of treason,” Ali al-Matrouk, a wealthy Shiite businessman, said in his immaculately landscaped garden one evening over tea, coffee and a large collection of savories and sweets.

“The high standard of living and the stability of Kuwait provide a safety valve and ease people's minds despite the tensions,” said Hassan Jawhar, one of only four Shiite lawmakers in Kuwait's 50-seat parliament. “The Shiites here, like other Kuwaitis, will never want to live anywhere else.”

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1) Worsening Shiite-Sunni tensions seen even in affluent, tolerant Kuwait