KUWAIT CITY, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the emir of Kuwait, has died.
He was 77.
Jaber, who had led the country since December 1977, suffered ill health and was seldom seen in public after suffering a minor stroke in 2001, the BBC reported.
A 40-day period of mourning has been declared and government offices will close for three days.
"With sorrow and grief, we mourn to the Kuwaiti people and to the Arab and Muslim nations, the death of his highness the emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah," said a Kuwaiti court statement
Jaber, who held the post of prime minister from 1965-78 and was heir-apparent from 1966, was the 13th ruler of a 245-year-old dynasty. He survived an assassination attempt in 1985 and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.
He fled to Saudi Arabia, where he established a government in exile, returning in March 1991 after a massive U.S.-led international military campaign ousted the Iraqi forces, the BBC said.
