(with photos)
KUWAIT, Jan 29 (KUNA) -- His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sponsored an official ceremony at Bayan Palace on Tuesday for hoisting the National Flag marking advent of the 47th National Day and the 17th Liberation Day and the second anniversary of His Highness' accession to power.
The ceremony was attended by HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the acting speaker of the National Assembly Mohammad Al-Bsairi, sheikhs, Deputy Chief of the National Guards Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, ministers, advisors, senior state officials, senior commanders of the army, the police and the national guards.
His Highness' motorcade arrived at the site of the ceremony at 10:30 p.m., where he was welcomed by elite military personnel, special forces of the police and the national guards. Later, the National Anthem was played, then His Highness hoisted the flag of the state, and watered a rose in homage to the soul of the "Amir of hearts" -- the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah. HH the Crown Prince did so too.
HH the Amir received children of the martyrs, and later on, the attending officials including HH the Crown Prince.
His Highness took part in the first ceremonial hoisting of the national flag in New York after Kuwait gained recognition as a member of the United Nations in May 1963. Foreign Minister at the time, Sheikh Sabah addressed a special UN General Assembly and stressed Kuwait was deeply committed to the independence and prosperity of all world nations.
The Kuwaiti flag went into several phases till issue of law 26/1961 during the rule of late Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, the 11th ruler of the State of Kuwait.
The law dictated the flag be a rectangular shape with three equally sized horizontal lines, green at the top, white in the middle, and red in bottom. There is a black trapezoid on the pole side of the flag. The national anthem was composed by poet Ahmad Al-Adwani in 1978.
The law stipulated the flag be hoisted atop government buildings, embassies, consulates, missions, ships, and elsewhere during national occasions.
During the seven-month Iraqi occupation of Kuwait between 1990 and 1991, citizens painted the Kuwaiti flag on public walls and buildings in defiance of the occupation and as a manifestation of patriotism.
To honor the symbol of the nation, the flag is only to be hoisted in good condition, never hoisted torn or faded or of irregular or altered design or altered specifications and dimensions.
