Mitterrand undermined global call to restore Kuwait emir

International demands during the first Gulf War for the restoration of Kuwait’s leadership were undermined by France in private discussions between French and Soviet leaders.

According to a Soviet transcript, Francois Mitterrand, the then French president, told his Soviet counterpart, Mikhail Gorbachev, in a telephone conversation that he disagreed with the insistence of America and its allies that Kuwait’s then exiled emir, the late Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, be returned to power.

Mitterand spoke to Gorbachev the month after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, and before the US-led military action began. Mitterrand also hoped that more strongly applied economic sanctions against Iraq would help negotiations to resolve the issue.