New Saudi King expected to push reforms
King Abdullah has taken the throne in a swift and smooth succession for this US ally and oil giant after the death of his long-ailing half brother. Abdullah, the de facto ruler for a decade, is expected to consolidate his power and could open the door for younger, more modern princes to play a role in government.
King Fahd, the country’s absolute monarch since 1982 until he was debilitated by a 1995 stroke, died early yesterday at the age of 84 after nearly two months in a Riyadh hospital.
The mechanism of succession moved quickly along tracks laid down long before: the 81-year-old Abdullah stepped in as king, while Fahd’s brother, Defence Minister Prince Sultan, 77, took up the position of crown prince and next in line to the throne.
Abdullah has been the main force behind unprecedented reform steps and a heavy crackdown on al-Qaida-linked militants following a series of terror attacks in May 2003.
Now armed with the power of the throne after years in the more tenuous position of de facto ruler, Abdullah will likely move to put allies into key positions and push forward on the reform and anti-terror tracks.
But he must tread carefully: a clan of his half-brothers in Saudi Arabia’s sprawling royal family hold key defence and security posts and may resist swift change.
And the orderliness of transition disguised what could be, on the long-term, a major shift in the kingdom, which holds the world’s largest reserves of oil and is a key hotspot in the war on terror.
Few expect the current generation of rulers – the sons of Abdul-Aziz bin Saud, the Bedouin chief who welded the kingdom together under his name in 1932 – to hold the throne as long as Fahd did. That opens the door to the next generation of numerous grandsons. Beyond Sultan, there is no clear line of succession.
Meanwhile, Saudis were preparing to bury their longest-ruling monarch – a 23-year reign. Fahd’s funeral, set for today, was to be a mix of the austerity dictated by Saudi Arabia’s puritanical Wahhabi version of Islam and the grandiosity befitting a kingdom whose oil riches fuelled investment across the Middle East and Islamic world.
Numerous Arab leaders – including Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah – were set to attend. They will attend prayers for the dead at one of Riyadh’s main mosques in the afternoon (3:30pm local; 12:30GMT). By late yesterday, hotels were packed as Saudis flocked to the capital to express their condolences to the royal family and congratulate the new king.
But Fahd was to be buried in an unmarked grave – the tradition in Wahhabism, which discourages the visiting of gravesites – in Riyadh cemetery alongside previous kings and commoners.
State-run television ran Quranic verses in mourning, and Information Minister Iyad bin Amin Madani’s voice wavered with emotion as he announced Fahd’s death yesterday morning. “With all sorrow and sadness, the royal court ... announces the death of the custodian of the two holy mosques, King Fahd bin Abdul-Aziz.”
Shoppers were out in the streets of Riyadh on Monday night, and shops were open for business, as many Saudis said they had long been expecting the long-ailing Fahd’s death.
“We will all pray for Fahd, who was a father figure to us all,” said Ibrahim al-Qahtani, who was shopping at a Riyadh mall with his children.
Abdullah emphasised stability, issuing a decree that all ministers would stay in their current positions.
But the coming months, he will likely be watched carefully for signs he is strengthening his position in the complicated, behind-the-scenes politics of Saudi Arabia’s royal family.
Abdullah is the half-brother of a close-knit circle of brothers known as the “Sudairi Seven” – after their mother – who included Fahd and who held key positions during the late monarch’s reign.
Sultan, the new crown prince and still in charge of the Defence Ministry, is one of the seven brothers. So is Interior Minister Prince Nayef, head of the internal security forces, and Prince Salman, the powerful governor of Riyadh.
Abdullah, who had a different mother, heads the National Guard, a once largely ceremonial unit he built into a modern 75,000-strong force as a counterweight to the army.
The Sudairi Seven, with close ties to the kingdom’s conservative Islamic clerics, have been criticised by some as too slow to crack down on militant groups and to introduce political reforms.
The next generation of royals may also be itching for a greater role - including the sons of Abdullah and the Sudairis. One key post to watch will be that of intelligence minister, empty since another half brother stepped down in January.
Prince Bandar, the son of Sultan and the urbane Saudi ambassador to Washington for two decades until last month, has been rumoured as one candidate for the post. But Abdullah may seek to install someone closer to himself.
Abdullah may also have to strike deals with the Sudairis and other half-brothers to push forward on reform and the terror crackdown. His main step so far was to call the kingdom’s first ever election – a vote earlier this year for local councils.
With the authority of the throne, he can push for more and heighten an anti-corruption campaign he began over the past decade.
“Now the political vacuum is over. We have one monarch and more decisiveness in the realm of reform. The world will witness positive changes in Saudi Arabia,” said Turki al-Hamad, a newspaper columnist and political scientist. ”Things that took many years to be decided will only take months.”
Unlike Fahd, Abdullah did not see the fate of his kingdom intertwined with the decades-old alliance with the United States. But once he became the kingdom’s de facto leader, he was pragmatic enough to preserve close ties with the US.
He understood he had to initiate changes in his country after the Sept. 11 attacks, carried out by 19 Arab hijackers, 15 of them Saudi. US and Western pressure on Saudi Arabia to reform was immense.
