Iraq's Sadr leaves Najaf for Kuwait

A source in Muqtada al-Sadr’s office revealed Monday that the leader of Iraq's Sadrist Movement has left Najaf for Kuwait heading a delegation from his organisation. The "friendly visit" is reportedly in response to an invitation from the Kuwaiti government. The source, who requested anonymity, said that during the visit Sadr will meet the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and other officials in the Kuwaiti government. This visit is the first this year where al-Sadr visits a neighbouring country other than Iran, where he lives for his studies. It also comes in conjunction with the political crisis Iraq is witnessing regarding the withdrawal of confidence from the Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition government, of which the Sadrist movement is a key partner. Salafist parties in Kuwait however attacked the visit, accusing Sadr of playing a passive role in the Syrian crisis. The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Watan cited Salafist Walid al-Titiyani as saying: “We do not accept the visit of Muqtada al-Sadr at a time when his hands are still stained with the blood of our people in Syria.” He added: "I say to he who invited him or allowed him to enter Kuwait -- 'stop humiliating the people'." Iraqi-Kuwaiti relations have improved since the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Iraq Ali al-Moamen's announced on April 30 that his country would open two consulates in Erbil and Basra in addition to embassy offices in a number of Iraqi provinces. He stated that the Kuwaiti side was working hard with the Iraqi government to resolve disputes existing since the 1990s. The joint Iraqi-Kuwaiti ministerial committee had met in Baghdad in April 29 and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced then the signing of a protocol with Kuwait that regulates navigation in Khor Abdullah. He added that Iraq would sign a number of agreements with Kuwait during the visit of Kuwaiti Prime Minister Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah to Iraq in the last quarter of the current year. He also noted that the third session of the joint ministerial committee will be convened in Kuwait in 2013. The joint committee was formed on January 12, 2011 to resolve outstanding issues between Iraq and Kuwait according to international resolutions, and held the first of its meetings on March 27, 2011.