King's death draws leaders
PARIS — The death of King Abdullah, a close U.S. ally who used Saudi oil wealth to ward off political change after the Arab Spring, led neighboring nations to declare weeks of mourning and world leaders to line up condolence visits.
In accordance with religious tradition, Abdullah was quickly and quietly buried Friday following his death early the same day.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, French President Francois Hollande, King Felipe VI of Spain and the U.K.’s Prince Charles have announced plans to travel to Riyadh in the coming days to pay their respects to the House of Saud.
Since Saudi Arabia is the home of Islam’s birthplace, and its ruler the custodian of Mecca, even critics are sending high-level delegations. Iran, the kingdom’s main regional rival, dispatched its foreign minister. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who fell out with the Saudis over the turmoil in Egypt, interrupted a visit to Ethiopia to fly to Riyadh for the funeral.
The decades-old U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia remained strong during Abdullah’s reign, though strains surfaced as the countries disagreed over the war in Syria and talks with Iran.
“King Abdullah’s life spanned from before the birth of modern Saudi Arabia through its emergence as a critical force within the global economy and a leader among Arab and Islamic nations,” U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement. “King Abdullah’s vision was dedicated to the education of his people and to greater engagement with the world.”
Bahrain and Jordan decreed 40 days of mourning. In Bahrain, flags will be at half-staff for 40 days and government offices closed for three days. Egypt declared a week of mourning and news anchors on state television stations wore black.
Saudi Arabia sent troops to Bahrain in March 2011 to help its Sunni rulers crush protests by the majority Shiite Muslims. In July 2013 Saudi Arabia pledged $5 billion in cash and petroleum products to Egypt after the army ousted an elected Muslim Brotherhood government. The Brotherhood’s brand of political Islam, which seeks to gain power via the ballot box, has been consistently opposed by the Saudis.
Morocco, where several members of the Saudi royal family have vacation homes, has decreed three days of mourning. Saudi Arabia and neighboring Gulf countries pledged $5 billion to the North African country to help the ruling family there tame 2011 pro-democracy demonstrations.
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, in a letter of condolence carried by state news agency MAP, mourned the loss “not only for Saudi Arabia but also for Morocco and the whole Muslim nation of a brave ruler who stood for just causes.”
King Abdullah, who was born in 1924, was on Friday carried into a mosque by family members wrapped in a plain shroud before his burial in an unmarked grave in Riyadh. He has been succeeded by half-brother Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, 79.
Abdullah became Saudi Arabia’s sixth king in 2005 and was de facto ruler for almost a decade before that, as his predecessor was incapacitated by a stroke. His policies helped Saudi Arabia remain mostly unscathed by the Arab Spring. He allocated $130 billion in social spending in February and March of 2011 as popular uprisings spread across Tunisia, Egypt and other regional countries, toppling longtime leaders.
In Syria, the protests evolved into a sectarian civil war that’s also a proxy confrontation between Saudi Arabia, the Gulf’s leading Sunni power, and Shiite-ruled Iran. The two countries have clashed over oil policy as well as Syria, and Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of stirring up Shiite populations in Gulf countries while Iran blames the Saudis for funding Sunni radicals.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and one of his predecessors, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, expressed condolences and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will travel to Riyadh.
Beyond its role as an ally in key Middle East conflicts, Saudi Arabia has also been a major arms buyer from U.S. and European companies. Criticism of the kingdom’s human rights record in those countries has been muted.
As leaders praised Abdullah’s reign, Human Rights Watch said in a report that though there have been “marginal” advances for women’s rights, he “failed to secure the fundamental rights of Saudi citizens to free expression, association, and assembly.”
Hollande was asked by French reporters in Davos, Switzerland whether he’d use his visit to raise the issue of Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger condemned to 1,000 lashes after being found guilty of insulting Islam. The French president avoided the question.
