Manama: Half of the Kuwaiti men supposed to sign up for the mandatory military service have failed to register their names, prompting the authorities to initiate legal and punitive action against them.
According to the defence ministry, 2,300 Kuwaitis were supposed, under the new rules, to register for the military service. However, at the end of the two-month grace period for registration, only 1,150 signed up, the head of the military service commission, Ebrahim Salem Al Amiri, said.
“We are now working on the cases of those who have failed to sign up for the draft in order to refer them to the public prosecution,” he said, quoted by Kuwaiti daily Al Rai on Tuesday. “We simply cannot ignore that 1,150 Kuwaitis failed to comply with an Emiri order regarding the national military service.”
Under new rules, all Kuwaiti men who were born on May 10, 1999 and beyond have to engage the procedures to get enlisted for military services.
Authorities warned that those who have failed to comply with the new regulations and register for the draft within 60 days of reaching the age of 18 would face strict punitive measures that included travel bans, prison terms and fines.
Al Amiri said that 7,500 Kuwaitis would be 18 years by the end of the year and would have to sign up for the compulsory conscription. The figure is expected to reach 13,000 by May 10 next year.
Officials have predicted that up to 13,000 Kuwaitis would sign up for the service in its initial stages.
However, Al Amiri said that they expected that between 300 and 500 Kuwaitis would undergo the training by the end of the year “as most of the young men would be given directions to postpone their service”.
All conscripts will need up to one month to complete the medical and administrative procedures, he added.
By reinstating the mandatory military service in 2017 after it was suspended by parliament in 2001, Kuwait has become the third Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country to embrace the system, following Qatar in 2013 and the UAE in 2014. The three other GCC countries, Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia, do not impose compulsory military service for their citizens.
Eight other Arab countries have mandatory military service: Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania and Sudan.
The Arab League has 22 member states.