No Kuwaiti Cabinet reshuffle

Kuwaiti crown prince and Prime Minister Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah on Monday denied plans to reshuffle his ministers, but he did not rule out such a measure, adding "I do not know what will happen tomorrow."

He called upon Kuwaiti politicians and local news to discuss this week the need for such a reshuffle in the Cabinet after tension has been eliminated with Iraq as a result of the accord signed between Baghdad and the UN. Talks about a Cabinet reshuffle in Kuwait started October 1997 after Sheikh Saad arrived in Kuwait following seven months of medical treatment.

The current government was formed in October 1996 following general elections. Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah dissolved the Kuwaiti nation's council in 1986, but the council was reformed in 1992, one year after the end of the Iraqi occupation, the Lebanese daily al-Nahar said.