KUWAIT, Jan 15: Kuwaiti ruler Shaikh Jaber Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah died on Sunday aged 79, after a quarter-century in power marked by the trauma of the Iraqi invasion and fruits of unprecedented economic prosperity. Kuwait’s cabinet named the major oil producer’s ailing Crown Prince Shaikh Saad Al Abdulla Al Sabah as its ruler after the emir’s death from a long illness.

Shaikh Jaber was laid to rest as thousands of Kuwaitis massed for a funeral ceremony attended by a number of Arab leaders, with Shaikh Saad participating in his wheelchair.

Prime Minister Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, who has been running daily affairs in recent years, rushed back home from Oman, where he was on vacation.

Analysts expected no change in Kuwait’s oil policies and pro-Western outlook under the 76-year-old new emir, who is largely incapacitated by illness.

Shaikh Saad is likely to be a figurehead while Prime Minister Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah runs the country — a role he has played over the past four years.

“According to the constitution ... and in accordance with the rules of succession, the cabinet calls on the heir and crown prince ... as emir of the country,” said a cabinet statement read out on state television.

Shaikh Jaber suffered a brain haemorrhage in 2001, which limited his duties in the country.

Hundreds of Kuwaitis and expatriates, some sobbing and reading from the Quran, gathered outside the emir’s Dasman Palace in Kuwait City.

Analysts believe Shaikh Saad’s appointment was aimed at averting a crisis within the ruling family, which traditionally must alternate the leadership between its Al Jaber and Al Salem branches.

The emir was the 13th ruler of a dynasty that has ruled Kuwait for more than two centuries. The Anaiza tribe, to which the Al Sabahs belong, migrated from the Arabian hinterland.

“The country has been run by (Prime Minister) Shaikh Sabah for years. Policy will remain stable.

It will not be affected by any change in the guard,” former Kuwaiti oil minister Ali Al Baghli told Reuters.

Kuwaiti oil officials said on Sunday the country would stick to its policy of keeping global markets well supplied.

— Agencies