RIYADH – Saudi King Salman’s brother has played down controversial remarkshe made to anti-Saudi protesters in London that sparked furious speculationabout possible discord within the royal family.
Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz al-Saud apparently told a crowd in London tostop chanting slogans against the Saudi royal family over the Kingdom’sinvolvement in the three-year conflict in Yemen.
“What does the family have to do with it? Certain individuals areresponsible… the king and the crown prince,” he said, according to awidely-circulated online video of the incident in London.
The comment was seen by many on social media as rare criticism from a royalfamily member of the kingdom’s leadership as well as its role in the Yemenconflict, dubbed by the UN as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
But in a statement, the prince dismissed that interpretation as”inaccurate”.
“I have made it clear that the king and the crown prince are responsiblefor the state and its decisions,” the prince said in the statement releasedby the official Saudi Press Agency late Tuesday.
“This is true for the security and stability of the country and the people.Therefore, it is not possible to interpret what I said in any other way.”
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In a bid to suggest unity within the royal family , multiple pro-Saudisocial media accounts posted images of Prince Ahmed kissing the hand ofKing Salman.
The royal family ‘s internal affairs are shrouded in secrecy and a publicairing of disagreements is extremely rare.
But Saudi expert James Dorsey said the London incident suggests “a longsuspected greater degree of domestic questioning of Saudi Arabia’s3.5-year-old ill-fated war in Yemen than has been publicly evident untilnow”.
The remarks come as powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tightens hisgrip on power by cracking down on dissent with the imprisonment ofprominent clerics, women, and human rights activists.
The crown prince, the architect of the kingdom’s 2015 intervention inYemen, has also drawn criticism over the conflict that left nearly 10,000people dead and pushed the impoverished country to the brink of famine. -APP/AFP
