The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, with HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifah of Bahrain and others during the funeral of King Abdullah in Riyadh yesterday.
Reuters/Riyadh
Saudi Arabia’s new King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud yesterday pledged continuity in energy and foreign policies.
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who died early yesterday after a short illness, was buried in an unmarked grave in keeping with religious traditions.
King Salman appointed his youngest half-brother Muqrin, 69, as crown prince and nephew Mohamed bin Nayef, 55, as deputy crown prince.
In his first speech as king, shown live on Saudi television, Salman, thought to be 79, pledged to maintain the same approach to ruling the world’s top oil exporter and birthplace of Islam as his predecessors and called for unity among Arab states.
“We will continue to abide by the righteous policy adopted by Saudi Arabia since it was founded by King Abdulaziz and his sons who took over after him,” Salman said.
“The Arab and Muslim nations today badly need unity and solidarity. We will continue in this country, which God has chosen to be the birthplace of His message, to take every step to unify (Muslim) ranks and defend our nation’s causes,” he added.
Salman becomes the last Saudi ruler to be born before the discovery of commercial quantities of oil in the world’s top crude exporter.
And Mohamed bin Nayef becomes the first grandson of the kingdom’s founding monarch, King Abdulaziz, known as Ibn Saud, to take an established place in the line of succession.
All Saudi kings since Abdulaziz’s death in 1953 have been his sons. King Salman also appointed his son, Mohamed bin Salman, defence minister and head of the royal court.
US President Barack Obama, moving to cement Washington’s long alliance with Saudi Arabia, was expected to speak to Salman in the coming days.
King Salman appears unlikely to change Saudi Arabia’s approach to foreign affairs or energy sales, according to observers.
Diplomats who have attended meetings between the new king and foreign leaders over the past year have said he has been fully engaged in talks lasting several hours at a time.
His nominated successor, Crown Prince Muqrin, is a former fighter pilot.
In a country with a young population, many Saudis will be unable to recall a time before King Abdullah’s rule, both as monarch from 2005 and as de facto regent for a decade before that.
His legacy was an effort to overhaul the kingdom’s economic and social systems to address a looming demographic crisis by creating private sector jobs and making young Saudis better prepared to take them.
“I think (Salman) will continue with Abdullah’s reforms. He realises the importance of this,” said Jamal Khashoggi, head of a news channel owned by a Saudi prince.
King Salman is expected to focus on creating jobs and big infrastructure projects to prevent falling oil prices from undermining business confidence.
Oil prices jumped in an immediate reaction as news of Abdullah’s death added to uncertainty in energy markets.
Embassy in Doha to receive mourners
The Saudi embassy in Doha will receive mourners offering their condolences on the death of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud over three days starting from today (9am to 3pm). “A special record will be dedicated to residing and visiting Saudi citizens to pledge allegiance during the three days,” the Qatar News Agency (QNA) quoted the embassy as saying in a statement yesterday.
