RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman ordered a sweeping government reshuffleThursday, replacing key security and political figures including theforeign minister, as the kingdom grapples with the international falloutover critic Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
The surprise shake-up saw the appointment of new ministers of the powerfulNational Guard, information and education, as well as the head of a newspace agency, but the energy and finance ministries were unaffected despitean economic downturn.
The revamp left untouched the authority of Crown Prince Mohammed binSalman, the de facto ruler facing intense international scrutiny over theOctober 2 murder of journalist Khashoggi, which tipped the kingdom into oneof its worst crisis.
Ibrahim al-Assaf, a former finance minister who was detained last year inan anti-corruption sweep, will replace Adel al-Jubeir as foreign minister,a royal decree said.
Jubeir, who sought to defend the tainted government internationally afterKhashoggi’s murder, was effectively demoted to minister of state forforeign affairs, the decree added without explaining the change.In other significant appointments, Prince Abdullah bin Bandar was namedchief of the powerful National Guard, and Musaed al-Aiban, a Harvardgraduate, was appointed the new national security adviser.
The reshuffle would help the crown prince further “consolidate power” asmany of those promoted were his “key allies”, tweeted Ali Shihabi, head ofthe pro-Saudi think tank The Arabia Foundation.
In other changes, Turki al-Shabanah, an executive at broadcaster Rotana,was appointed as the new information minister, replacing Awwad al-Awwad –who was named as an advisor to the royal court.
Turki al-Sheikh, a close aide to the crown prince, was removed as the headof the kingdom’s sports commission and appointed entertainment authoritychief, while Ahmed al-Khatib was named tourism authority chief.
The king also ordered the creation of a national space agency to be led byone of his other sons, Prince Sultan bin Salman, a former astronaut.
The energy, economy and finance ministries were left untouched even as thepetro-state faces a sharp fall in crude prices that has generated reneweduncertainty over Prince Mohammed’s Vision 2030 reform programme for apost-oil era.
But the appointment as foreign minister of Assaf, who holds a seat on theboards of state oil giant Aramco and the vast Public Investment Fund,indicates an emphasis on “economic diplomacy” as the kingdom seeks toreassure foreign investors rattled by the Khashoggi crisis, analysts say.
Assaf was held in Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel last year along with hundredsof elite princes and businessmen, in what the government called ananti-corruption crackdown.
Read Top Stories
The reshuffle comes as Saudi Arabia seeks to repair its tarnished imageafter Khashoggi’s murder, widely seen as its worst diplomatic crisis sincethe September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, in whichmost of the hijackers were identified as Saudi nationals.
“You cannot delink Khashoggi from any developments, though governmentreshuffles are customary every four years,” said Mohammed Alyahya, a seniorfellow at the Gulf Research Centre.
“The reshuffle saw the appointment of some young princes, but also veteranstatesmen to positions of power. There is an effort to balance the fastpace of reform with bolstering government procedures and institutions.”
Saudi Arabia last week said it was creating government bodies to boostoversight of its intelligence operations, in the wake of the murder.
The kingdom has said Khashoggi was killed inside its Istanbul consulate ina “rogue operation” led by Saudi agents, but the CIA reportedly concludedthat Prince Mohammed ordered his assassination.
The murder has battered the reputation of the 33-year-old crown prince, whocontrols all major levers of power. He is set to maintain his political andsecurity posts after Thursday’s reshuffle, including that of defenceminister.
Saudi Arabia last week slammed as ‘interference’ a US Senate resolutionthat held Prince Mohammed responsible for the killing, and another thatsought to end American military support for the Riyadh-led war in Yemen.
“The primary bone of contention between Saudi Arabia and American lawmakersis the power of Prince Mohammed and his responsibility for the murder ofKhashoggi,” said Ryan Bohl, from the US geopolitical think tank Stratfor.
“This reshuffle doesn’t undercut the crown prince, meaning that thosewithin the US Congress who want to see his role reduced will have anargument that further action should still be taken.” – APP/AFP
