KUWAIT: Kuwaitis increasingly accuse their government of incompetence over shortages

Record ID: 241725

  • Title: KUWAIT: Kuwaitis increasingly accuse their government of incompetence over shortages
  • Date: 16th March 1991
  • Summary: KUWAIT CITY, KUWAIT (MARCH 16, 1991)(VISNEWS) PEOPLE QUEUE OUTSIDE SUPERMARKET/FLASH CAR DRIVING PAST GOODS BEING APPORTIONED INSIDE SHELVES FILLED WITH RUBBISH AND DAMAGED GOODS PEOPLE CHECKING SHOPPER'S ALlocATIONS
  • Embargoed: 31st March 1991 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KUWAIT CITY, KUWAIT
  • Country: Kuwait
  • Topics: Economic News,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADUCR8LE9DFS7CMSCYCKCCXNQ0
  • Story Text: Kuwaitis, angered by the lack of food, water and electricity two weeks after liberation, are increasingly accusing their government of incompetence over the shortages. The first supermarket to reopen in the city on Saturday (March 16) will do little to quell the frutstration.

    "The trouble is, people are impatient because the government promised more than they could deliver," said Tariq al-Barak, head of the Kuwait Supply Company which imports subsidised food for the government.

    Barak denied there was any discrimination against Palestinians.

    He produced lists which he said proved that supplies were being issued in Palestinian neighbourhoods.

    In the Shuweikh neighbourhood, at least 500 people queued for free bread on Saturday at one of seven bakeries functioning in the city. Only one production line was working and there were separate queues for Kuwaitis and Palestinians.

    Kuwaitis are particularly miserable because the problems come on the eve of Ramadan, the holy month when Moslems fast during the day and may only eat at night.

    Barak said his organisation did not know what food supplies were coming from neighbouring Saudi Arabia until they arrived. Witnesses said some 200 trucks were lined up on the Saudi side of the border on Friday but none was moving.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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