Kuwaiti women activists called yesterday for unity to avert a sectarian rift between Islam’s two main sects amid concern in the Gulf state about the fallout of sectarian violence in neighbouring Iraq.

“Today, Kuwait’s national unity and social fabric are being targeted as signs of abhorrent sectarian rifts surface,” they said in a statement.

Signed by 23 prominent women activists, the statement urged the government to stamp out any sectarian discord and called on MPs to dissociate themselves from sectarian affiliations and work to preserve peaceful coexistence. They also urged Kuwaitis to be vigilant and resist any attempt to drag them into a sectarian conflict that would threaten everyone.

With sectarian violence raging in Iraq, Kuwait has at times experienced tensions between hardliners in the majority Sunni population and the Shii’tes.

Last week the government prevented a public rally called by radical Sunni activists to highlight what they called the “plight of Sunnis in Iraq.”

Shiites, who comprise about a third of Kuwait’s native population of one million, have been emboldened by events in Iraq where their counterparts head the government after decades of Sunni rule ended with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

There are currently two Shi’ites in the 16-member Kuwaiti cabinet and only four in the 50-member parliament. In 2005, Kuwaiti leaders appealed for calm after tension rose between the two communities in the emirate.