Kuwait celebrates liberation from Iraq and independence from the UK with 50/20

By Claire McCarthy, on Saturday, April 30, 2011

Kuwait celebrates 50/20: 20 years since the liberation from the Iraqi invasion and 50 years of independence from the UK

If you were in Kuwait this year, it would have been hard not to notice the brightly decorated houses, the flags lining the highways and byways, as well as the advertisements for “50/20”! This year, on February 26 (seven months after the date of the original invasion) Kuwait celebrated the anniversary of its liberation from the Iraqis, and on June 19, Kuwait celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Independence from the UK.

Although I remember the original invasion, I realised I didn‘t know much about the history of Kuwait so I set out to find out a bit.

It would appear that although there is evidence of civilisation on one of the islands called Failaka, it seems the first people settled here about 300 years ago, having travelled up from Qatar and a member of the Al Sabeh tribe became the first leader. This family is still the ruling power today.

According to the UK Kuwaiti embassy website, the links between the UK and Kuwait goes back many centuries as well, precisely to the 1770s when the British mail route from India to Aleppo passed through Kuwait. In 1899 a Treaty of Friendship was signed in which Britain would protect Kuwait’s national security.

Oil was first exploited in the 1930s and after the war and independence from the UK, it has dominated their economy ever since.

Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 as, among other things, it claimed Kuwait was a province of Iraq, but Kuwait was liberated seven months later with the help of the allied forces. The Kuwaitis now treat this holiday like a New Year celebration!

In early February, Kuwaiti flags were popping up all over the place and the outside of homes began to be transformed into grottos with amazing light displays to out-do Disneyland. All the highways were decorated with the 50/20 sign and with lights and flower displays! We were given two extra days off school and were warned by colleagues of the forthcoming mayhem!

Adverts had been on the television warning people of the results of spraying aerosols into people faces and fireworks could be heard all over town for weeks before.

Foreigners locked themselves in their homes for the whole weekend. It sounded like chaos. Each day over the weekend there were huge parades and displays organised by the government.

The main problem were the crowds of people acting like lunatics. Young people (anything from 11 years old upwards) driving around screaming and shouting, throwing paper, spraying silly string and foam into peoples faces, as well as everywhere else, fireworks through the night, miles and miles of traffic jams and crowds of people packing the main streets of the towns.

Having been forewarned, we left the country and watched the pandemonium on the television from the quiet and calm in Muscat!

(image: part of the 50/20 celebrations in Kuwait)