*RIYADH – US top diplomat Mike Pompeo held talks with Saudi King Salman onTuesday seeking answers about the disappearance of journalist JamalKhashoggi, amid US media reports the kingdom may be mulling an admission hedied during a botched interrogation.*
“Rogue killers” could be to blame for the disappearance of Khashoggi, whohas not been seen since he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul onOctober 2 to sort out marriage paperwork, US President Donald Trump saidafter telephone talks with the king.
Trump dispatched Pompeo to Riyadh for what the State Department describedas “face to face meetings with the Saudi leadership”.
After his talks with the king, Pompeo was to have dinner with his powerfulson, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a US official told the accompanyingpress.
Turkish police on Monday searched the consulate for the first time sincethe disappearance of Khashoggi, a Saudi national and US resident who hadbecome increasingly critical of Prince Mohammed.
Turkish officials have said they believe he was killed — a claim SaudiArabia has denied — with the controversy dealing a huge blow to theprince’s efforts to showcase a reform drive and burnish the kingdom’s image.
US media reported on Monday that the kingdom is considering an admissionthat Khashoggi died after an interrogation that went wrong during anintended abduction.
The UN human rights chief called Tuesday for the lifting of the immunity ofofficials who might be involved in Khashoggi’s disappearance.
“In view of the seriousness of the situation surrounding the disappearanceof Mr. Khashoggi, I believe the inviolability or immunity of the relevantpremises and officials… should be waived immediately,” Michelle Bacheletsaid in a statement.
Until Monday, Riyadh had not allowed Turkish investigators to search theconsulate — officially Saudi territory — with reports both sides were atodds over the conditions.
The investigators, who searched the premises for eight hours into Tuesdaymorning, took samples with them, including soil from the consulate garden,one official at the scene said.
Istanbul police are now also planning to search the nearby consul’sresidence, a diplomatic source said.
‘No knowledge’
Trump’s comments came after a telephone conversation with King Salman,father of the crown prince, the first such talks since the crisis erupted.
“Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge ofwhatever may have happened ‘to our Saudi Arabian citizen’,” Trump tweeted.
Riyadh’s most recent comments have focused on having no knowledge of anykilling or denying that any order to kill Khashoggi had been given.
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“The denial was very, very strong,” Trump later told reporters at the WhiteHouse. “It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers.Who knows?”
But CNN cited two sources as saying the Saudis are preparing a report thathis death resulted from a botched interrogation, while the Wall StreetJournal said the kingdom was weighing whether to say that rogue operativeskilled Khashoggi by mistake.
After his crunch talks in Riyadh Tuesday, Pompeo was expected in Turkey onWednesday to meet Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, the state-runAnadolu news agency said.
The search came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and KingSalman also had their first telephone talks since the controversy erupted.‘Davos in Desert’ unravels
The controversy has troubled Saudi’s traditional Western allies, who arekey arms suppliers to the kingdom, and also undermined efforts by Mohammedbin Salman to present himself as a modernising ruler.
An investment conference seen as a platform for the crown prince and dubbedthe “Davos in the Desert”, scheduled to take place in Riyadh next week, hasbeen hit by a string of prominent cancellations.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Ford chairman Bill Ford and Larry Fink, thehead of investment giant BlackRock, were among the latest business baronsto cancel plans to attend.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he still plans to attend butwould “take (it)… into account” if more information came out.
The controversy meanwhile threw into doubt a $400 million deal the SaudiPublic Investment Fund negotiated with Hollywood’s most powerful talentagency as part of the crown prince’s drive for a foothold in theentertainment industry.
Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel said the Khashoggi case was “very, veryconcerning”, although he stopped short of pronouncing the deal was dead.
Trump has threatened the kingdom with “severe punishment” if it is shownthat Khashoggi was killed inside its Istanbul mission.
But he has also made clear he is reluctant to curb all-important arms salesto Saudi Arabia.
Britain, France and Germany also released a rare joint statement sayingthey were treating Khashoggi’s disappearance “with the utmost seriousness”and calling for a “credible investigation”.
Riyadh, however, has vowed to hit back against any punitive measuresimposed over the affair. – APP / AFP
