Saudi King Fahd dies, Abdullah replaces him

By Laith Abou-Ragheb

RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd died on Monday
and Crown Prince Abdullah was swiftly pronounced monarch of the
world’s largest oil exporter and a key U.S. ally.

A Saudi source said the kingdom’s oil policy would not
change. Diplomats said they expected no major shifts in foreign
policy under King Abdullah, who is at least 80 and has run
day-to-day affairs since a stroke debilitated Fahd in 1995.

“With deep sorrow and pain, the royal court… mourns the
death of The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd due to
illness,” said Information Minister Iyad bin Amin Madani,
reading an official statement on state television.

Fahd, who was believed to be 83 and had been in poor
health, had entered hospital on May 27 with acute pneumonia. A
medical source said he died at around 6 a.m. local time (0300
GMT).

“The royal family members have acknowledged Crown Prince
Abdullah as sovereign of the country … after which the
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and ruler of Saudi Arabia
King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz chose Prince Sultan as crown
prince and the family members acknowledged that,” the statement
said.

Prince Sultan, like King Abdullah, was born in 1924.

U.S. crude oil jumped to $61 a barrel after Fahd’s death.
The Saudi source said Riyadh would adhere to its long-standing
oil policy aimed at keeping global markets well supplied to
stabilize prices.

“I am sure nothing will change regarding Saudi Arabia’s oil
policy,” the source told Reuters.

The Saudi stock market, the largest Arab bourse, briefly
suspended trading and was down almost 2 percent after
reopening.

FUNERAL ON TUESDAY

A Saudi official said Fahd’s funeral would take place on
Tuesday to give time for foreign dignitaries to take part.

Ordinary Saudis said they were saddened, but not surprised,
by Fahd’s death. Over the past decade, the wheelchair-bound
king’s public appearances became increasingly rare. He chaired
occasional cabinet meetings but barely spoke in public.

“I am very sad but this will happen to all of us,” said
government employee Saud Mohammed. “The king is now in God’s
hands.”

In Cairo, an Arab League official said this week’s Arab
summit in Egypt would be postponed for a few days.

Abdullah, the fifth son of Saudi Arabia’s founder King
Abdul-Aziz to ascend the throne, is a cautious reformer who has
overseen modest economic and political liberalization.

In the past two years, the kingdom has faced a violent al
Qaeda campaign to end seven decades of the royal family’s rule
in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest shrines.

Fahd ascended the throne of one of the world’s richest
nations in June 1982, at the height of Saudi Arabia’s
petrodollar boom and reigned for 23 years, through three
regional wars and, in his final years, al Qaeda militancy. His
strong alliance with Washington and his decision to allow U.S.
forces to deploy in Islam’s birthplace in 1990 enraged
Saudi-born al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Bin Laden has vowed to depose the Saudi royal family who he
blasted as U.S. “agents and stooges” and whose rule he
described as an “extension of the crusader wars against
Muslims.”

U.S. troops remained until the 2003 invasion of Iraq and
the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

By that time the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, carried out mainly
by Saudi hijackers, had clouded the relationship with the
United States which had been Fahd’s foreign policy cornerstone.

Suicide bombings in the capital Riyadh two years later
brought insurgency home, while the strategic alliance with
Washington, centerd on oil and Gulf security, was in crisis.

But ties partly recovered after intense diplomacy by both
countries and Riyadh’s support for the U.S. “war on terror.”

During his rule, Fahd introduced limited political change,
appointing a Shura advisory council which has slowly gained
influence since its establishment more than 10 years ago.
(Reporting by Samia Nakhoul, Dominic Evans and Laith
Abou-Ragheb)