Extended 5-day weekend in Kuwait for national celebrations

Cairo: Government workers in Kuwait will later this month get three days as a holiday to celebrate the country’s National Day and Liberation Day.

The Council of Ministers said work will be suspended in all state and public institutions on February 25 and 26 as official holidays on the occasion of the National Day and Liberation Day, and February 27 as a day of rest.

Friday and Saturday are the usual weekend in Kuwait. Official work will resume on Sunday, March 2.

Meanwhile, agencies with a special nature of work will have their holidays on the occasion determined by the competent authorities, with the public interest taken into consideration.

Kuwait annually celebrates the National Day marking independence from Britain on February 25. The following day is designated as the Liberation Day commemorating the dislodging of Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait in 1991 after a US-led military multinational campaign that ended the August 1990 invasion.

Earlier this week, Kuwait’s Emir Meshal Al Ahmad attended a flag-hoisting ceremony, ushering in the start of the national celebrations.

The ceremony initiated nationwide celebrations of the 64th anniversary of Kuwait’s National Day and the 34th anniversary of the Liberation Day.

The current shape of the Kuwaiti flag was adopted more than 63 years ago when the then Emir Abdullah Al Salem issued a decree in September 1961, to raise the flag on masts atop government institutions. It was officially hoisted on 24 November, 1961.

The Kuwaiti flag is divided into three equal horizontal stripes, the top green, the middle white and the bottom red, with a black trapezoid based on the hoist side.

The colours of the flag were inspired by two verses in a poem composed by the medieval poet Safi Al Din Al Hilli lauding Arab traits. They read: “We are people whose morals, out of generosity, refuse to start harm to those who do not harm us. Our deeds are white, our battles are black, our pastures are green, and our sharp swords are red.”