In this April 5, 2017 photo Saudi King Salman, right, and Defense
Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wave as they leave
the hall after talks with the British prime minister, in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia. (Saudi Press Agency via AP)
Saudi Arabia's King Salman on
Wednesday appointed his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman as crown
prince, placing him first-in-line to the throne and removing the
country's counterterrorism czar and a figure well-known to Washington
from the line of succession.
The monarch stripped Prince Mohammed bin Nayef from
his title as crown prince and from his powerful position as the
country's interior minister overseeing security. The announcements were
made in a series of royal decrees carried on the state-run Saudi Press
Agency.
The all-but-certain takeover of the throne by
Mohammed bin Salman awards near absolute powers to a prince who has
ruled out dialogue with rival Iran, has moved to isolate neighboring
Qatar for its support of Islamist groups and who has led a war in Yemen
that has killed thousands of civilians.
The prince already oversees a vast portfolio as
defense minister and is spearheading economic reforms. He has become
popular among some of Saudi Arabia's majority youth for pushing reforms
that have opened the deeply conservative country to entertainment and
greater foreign investments as part of an effort to overhaul the economy
, including plans to list a percentage of the state-run oil giant
Aramco.
The young prince was little known to Saudis and
outsiders before Salman became king in January 2015. He had previously
been in charge of his father's royal court when Salman was the crown
prince.
The Saudi monarch quickly awarded his son expansive
powers and named him deputy crown prince two years ago to the surprise
of many within the royal family who are more senior and more experienced
than Mohammed bin Salman, also known by his initials MBS.
The appointment of such a young royal as the
immediate heir to the throne essentially sets Saudi policy for decades
and removes the challenge of uncertainty. Saudi Arabia's stock market
was up by more than 3.5 percent in mid-day trading.
"He could be there for 50 years," said
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a research fellow at the James A. Baker III
Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. "If you look at it
positively, it is basically setting Saudi Arabia's course into the 21st
century."
Another young prince also ascended to power
on Wednesday. Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud, 33, was named the new interior
minister tasked with counterterrorism efforts and domestic security. His
father is the governor of Saudi Arabia's vast Eastern Province, home to
much of the country's oil wealth and most of its minority Shiites. He
previously served as an adviser to the interior and defense ministries.
The new interior minister is Mohammed bin
Nayef's nephew, while Mohammed bin Salman is the former crown prince's
cousin. All hail from the powerful Sudairi branch of the royal family.
The royal decree issued Wednesday stated that
"a majority" of senior royal members — 31 out of 34 — from the
so-called Allegiance Council support the recasting of the line of
succession.
The Allegiance Council is a body made up of
the sons and prominent grandsons of the late King Abdul-Aziz, the
founder of the Saudi state. They gather in secret and vote to pick the
king and crown prince from among themselves. It was not immediately
clear if the council met before Wednesday's sudden change.
Even when there is disagreement, the royal
family has long followed a tradition of speaking with one voice,
particularly on issues of succession, in order to appear united in front
of Saudi Arabia's many tribes and communities.
After the decrees were announced, Saudi TV
aired footage of the new crown prince kissing Mohammed bin Nayef's hand
and kneeling before him. Mohammed bin Nayef is heard telling him: "I
will rest now, and God help you."
In celebration of the news, King Salman
ordered the reinstatement of all benefits and allowances for government
employees that had been curbed by austerity measures, and granted
additional days off for the upcoming Eid holiday that marks the end of
Ramadan.
Over the weekend, the king had issued a
decree restructuring Saudi Arabia's system for prosecutions that removed
Mohammed bin Nayef's oversight of criminal investigations, and instead
ordered that a newly-named Office of Public Prosecution report directly
to the monarch.
Mohammed bin Nayef was once a towering figure
credited with crushing al-Qaida's cells in Saudi Arabia. He worked
closely with Washington after the Sept. 11 attacks, helping to share
intelligence to thwart more attacks. The prince had previously studied
at the FBI and at Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism institute.
Dubbed by Washington insiders as "the prince
of counterterrorism", Mohammed bin Nayef developed a ground-breaking
program that rehabilitates and counsels individuals convicted of
terrorism-related crimes. The center bears his name. In 2009, he
survived an assassination attempt when a man who'd completed the program
approached the prince and blew himself up.
The 58-year-old prince had served in a senior
security post before taking over as interior minister from his father,
the late Prince Nayef, in 2011. Both cracked down hard on rights
activists and crushed any signs of dissent.
Though his image remained on billboards and
atop buildings throughout Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Nayef appeared to
be slipping in profile and was not believed to have played a significant
role in Saudi and Emirati-led efforts to isolate Qatar for its support
of Islamist groups and its ties with Iran.
Instead, it was Mohammed bin Salman, who
embarked on major overseas visits, including a trip to the White House
to meet President Donald Trump in March. That visit to Washington helped
lay the foundation for Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia in May, which
marked the president's first overseas visit and which was promoted
heavily by the kingdom as proof of its weight in the region and wider
Muslim world.
Saudi-U.S. relations had cooled under the
Obama administration after Washington pursued a nuclear accord with
Shiite-majority Iran that the Sunni-ruled kingdom strongly opposed.
The warm ties forged between Riyadh and
Washington under the Trump administration may have helped accelerate
Mohammed bin Salman's ascension as crown prince.
Despite his ambitions, the prince has faced criticism for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which he oversees as defense minister.
The war, launched more than two years ago,
has failed to dislodge Iranian-allied rebels known as Houthis from the
Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and has had devastating effects on the
impoverished country. Rights groups say Saudi forces have killed scores
of civilians and have called on the United States, as well as Britain
and France, to halt the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia that could be
used in the war.
The U.S. already is helping the Saudis with
intelligence and logistical support for the bombing campaign in Yemen,
and the Trump administration has signaled it could assist with greater
intelligence support to counter Iranian influence there.
The newly-minted crown prince also raised
eyebrows when he ruled out any chance of dialogue with Iran. In remarks
aired on Saudi TV in May, Mohammed bin Salman framed the tensions with
Iran in sectarian terms, saying it is Iran's goal "to control the
Islamic world" and to spread its Shiite doctrine. He also vowed to take
"the battle" to Iran.
Iran and Saudi Arabia's rivalry has played
out in proxy wars across the region. The conflicts have deepened
Sunni-Shiite enmity between hard-liners on both sides.
Batrawy
reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Jon
Gambrell and Fay Abuelgasim in Dubai contributed to this report.
Follow Aya Batrawy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ayaelb
No comments:
Post a Comment