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Article: Learning to live together: the winds of change that are sweeping through the region bring with them testing--and, for some, frightening--times in which the old orders will be challenged. Nicholas Blanford reports from Kuwait on growing Shi'ite influences and how the Sunnis are accommodating change.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
- Article from:
- The Middle East
- Article date:
- May 1, 2005
- Author:
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POLITICALLY SIDELINED, KUWAIT'S minority Shi'ites are taking heart from the empowerment of their coreligionists in neighbouring Iraq to press for greater recognition.
"What's happening in Iraq will be positive for the Shi'ites in Kuwait and all over the Middle East, the Gulf countries in particular," said Sayyed Mohammed Baqr Al Mery, the representative in Kuwait of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq's pre-eminent Shi'ite cleric.
Indeed, other Shi'ite communities in the Gulf are becoming increasingly emboldened. The Shi'ite-led opposition in Bahrain at the end of March staged a massive rally in the streets of Manama to demand democratic reforms. During ...