Prince Saud served under four kings.
Advertisement
Mamoun Fandy, author of Saudi Arabia and the Politics of Dissent, said his death marks the end of an era as the elder royals move to shift power to younger princes. The king stressed that Prince Saudi Al-Faisal will be close to him and to the work Prince Saudi Al-Faisal loved and worked hard for.
More recently, Saud was one of the earlier proponents of arming Syria’s secular rebel groups, against both Islam-inspired radicals and the government of Bashar Assad.
Prince Saud’s death was announced on Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television and confirmed by Osama Nugali, a spokesman at the foreign ministry.
Similar cables were also sent to King Salman by the Crown Princes and Deputy Rulers of the Emirates. He was replaced on April 29 by Adel al-Jubeir, the then ambassador to Washington. Saudi-American relations, which had already been strained by the attacks of September 11 in the US since 15 of the 19 perpetrators were Saudis, reached a new low following the invasion. Regional instability has been fuelled by rivalry between Shi’ite Muslim Iran and the conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Kerry expressed his condolences to the prince’s family.
Prince Saud, who was born in 1940, was the world’s longest-serving foreign minister, having stepped down in April after 40 years.
Obama described him as a “committed and accomplished diplomat”.
The president says generations of USA diplomats benefited from the prince’s “thoughtful perspective, charisma and poise”. “Prince Saud, may he rest in peace, sacrificed his health in the service of his nation to achieve the objectives of his leadership and the Saudi people”, a royal court statement said.
In December, Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf said his ministry would discuss with the central bank its options for financing the large state budget deficit expected this year, and said a few might be covered by borrowing.
Advertisement
The prince often swapped his traditional Saudi thobe and checkered shemagh headdress for elegant suits when on missions in Western capitals.
