Kuwaiti cabinet resigns, parliament to be dissolved

Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Ahmad al-Sabah The government of oil-rich Kuwait resigned on Monday following a bitter dispute with opposition MPs, lawmaker Khaled al-Sultan said. "The Kuwaiti cabinet has resigned and the resignation has been accepted by the emir," the Islamist opposition MP told reporters outside parliament.
"We are waiting for the appointment of a new prime minister before parliament is dissolved in order to be assured of fair elections," the lawmaker said.
Parliament speaker Jassem al-Khorafi declined to comment on the decision, but said he had not been informed about dissolving parliament.
The announcement came after Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah chaired an emergency meeting of the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to discuss the emirate's latest political crisis.
Sheikh Nasser, 71, was due to be questioned in parliament by three opposition MPs on allegations of graft including charges that he transferred public funds into his overseas accounts. The government has denied the charges.
The move also came ahead of a planned mass rally later Monday by the opposition to press demands for the premier's ouster.
Sheikh Nasser, a nephew of the emir, was appointed to the post in February 2006 and has since now resigned seven times due to political turmoil. Parliament has been dissolved on three occasions over the same period.
The opposition to stage a mass rally Monday night to press for the resignation of Prime Minister Al-Sabah, a senior member of the ruling family.
The pro-government Al-Seyassah daily and several other local media cited unnamed informed sources as saying the emir would also dissolve parliament and call for snap polls, the fourth in just over five years.
Opposition supporters Sunday night camped outside the palace of justice in the capital Kuwait City for the fifth night in a row as a show of solidarity with 24 activists arrested for storming parliament on November 16.
Political tensions have escalated sharply in OPEC's third largest producer with unprecedented mass protests amid a campaign by opposition MPs to force Sheikh Nasser, a nephew of the ruler, to resign.
Kuwait's public prosecutor on Sunday extended the detention of 24 opposition activists who stormed the parliament building on November 16 following clashes with riot police.
Opposition MPs are scheduled to question Sheikh Nasser in parliament on Tuesday over allegations of corruption.