VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Kuwaiti leader Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah died at the age of 91, the Kuwaiti national news agency Kuna reported on Tuesday.

"With great sorrow, we the people of Kuwait, the Arab nation and the Islamic state, and the friendliest people in the world, mourns the death of His Majesty Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait. We belong to Allah and to Allah we will return," Kuna, as quoted by The New Arab said on Wednesday.

Before the announcement of his death, Kuwait stopped all regular programming and broadcast the verses of the Koran, in a rare act which marks the impending announcement of an important death.

The emir is widely regarded as the architect of modern Kuwaiti foreign policy, recently lauded in the Arab world for his anti-normalization and state neutrality on many divisive regional issues. The emir - who has ruled the Gulf state since 2006 - traveled to the US for treatment.

Prior to his departure, Al-Sabah authorized his half-brother Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to use part of his constitutional powers. (RRI)