It was still dark when, just before the dawan 2nd August1990, one hundred thousand Iraqi soldiers and three hundred tanks crossed the Kuwait border, winning in only four hours, with a rapid and bloody battle, the resistance of the few Kuwaiti forces along the borders. In the aftermath of the invasion, when rumours after abuses and harassment suffered by the unarmed civil population already are spreading, on the initiative of Pierandrea Vanni and a group of friends, the Association "Con il Kuwait: Amicizia e Solidarietà [With Kuwait: Friendship and Solidarity]" was born in Florence. A genuine civic thrust that aims to support the just cause of the Kuwaiti people and its right to freedom and national independence, under the guidance of its legitimate government. From Florence then starts a concrete initiative to help and give voice to a population suffering and resisting in a country now isolated from the rest of the world.
The Association immediately maintains frequent contacts with the press, the Italian and European Parliament, the regional and municipal institutions, and the Embassy of Kuwait in Italy, so that the political, institutional and social forces are sensitized on the problems arising from the invasion by part of the Iraqi troops to the detriment of Kuwaiti people: a constant condemnation without appeal of the invasion and the activation of the UN deliberations. After the liberation in 1991, the Association will engage in a constant appeal to the Government and the Italian Parliament for the release of prisoners illegally detained in Iraq, an issue that will absorb for almost ten years and will involve many other international associations and institutions. The association has also promoted the twinning between Florence and Kuwait City and many cultural initiatives, meetings, conferences and conventions for exchange and study, to affirm the right of every sovereign nation to independence and freedom.
Since then almost thirty years have passed.
The signature of the twinning between Florence and Kuwait City in November 1991.
From the left, the Mayor Giorgio Morales and the Minister of the Municipality of Kuwait City ibrahim Mojed al Shanin