Saudis pledge allegiance to new King Abdullah

By Mariam Isa and Laith Abou-Ragheb

RIYADH (Reuters) – Thousands of Saudi men thronged into a
cavernous marble-lined palace to pledge allegiance to their new
King Abdullah on Wednesday in a ceremony which completes the
transition of power from the late King Fahd.

Sunnis and Shi’ites, soldiers and tribal leaders, young and
old, queued to express support for their new monarch who is
assuming the throne of the world’s biggest oil exporter and the
cradle of Islam.

Abdullah was de facto ruler for the past 10 years until
Fahd’s death on Monday. He takes over a country booming as a
result of record oil prices but facing a sustained challenge
from militant Islamists opposed to the pro-Western royal
family.

The ceremony in the marble-lined Great Hall of the
governor’s palace in Riyadh came after Abdullah accepted
condolences from Arab and international leaders who continued
to arrive in Riyadh on Wednesday to pay their respects.

“We are here to pledge our allegiance to the new king …
We want to tell him that if he went into the ocean, we would
follow him,” said Saif al-Qahtani, a 45-year-old member of the
royal court as he waited with others to pledge support.

Some saluted, others shook Abdullah’s hand and many kissed
their new leader on the shoulder or hand in a traditional sign
of respect and loyalty.

The two-day ceremony of allegiance in Riyadh was being
replicated across the kingdom, home to Islam’s holiest mosques
in Mecca and Medina, as regional governors accepted pledges of
support in Abdullah’s name from ordinary Saudis.

Fahd was buried on Tuesday after a 23-year reign marked by
regional wars, sharp fluctuations in the kingdom’s prosperity
and a campaign of violence in the past two years by supporters
of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network.

The king, who enjoyed enormous wealth and privilege during
his lifetime, was laid to rest like his predecessors in an
unmarked grave in a public Riyadh cemetery, alongside hundreds
of other plain graves dug into the dirt.

CAUTIOUS CHANGE

Abdullah, known as a cautious reformer, is expected to
maintain Saudi Arabia’s stated aim of stabilising runaway oil
prices and rebuilding ties with the United States damaged by
the Sept. 11 attacks carried out by mainly Saudi hijackers in
2001.

He launched an unprecedented crackdown on al Qaeda after
suicide bombers began a wave of attacks against Saudi and
Western targets in 2003 aimed at destabilising the kingdom and
toppling the pro-U.S. House of Saud.

Abdullah has also begun to liberalise the state-dominated
economy and has led efforts to win accession to the World Trade
Organization. Saudi Arabia remains one of the largest economies
still outside the WTO.

He has initiated limited political change in the absolute
monarchy, overseeing nationwide elections for local councils.
Critics dismiss the men-only, partial vote as a sham and point
out that four months on, none of the councils has been set up.

“We have started a process of change in terms of education
and sharing opinions with each other,” Deputy Education
Minister Khaled Dohaish told Reuters. “I want to see more
development in terms of freedom and sharing our opinions with
the government.”

Abdullah’s age — both he and his heir, Crown Prince
Sultan, are octogenarians — has raised doubts over whether
future successions in Saudi Arabia will be as smooth as his
own.

Analysts say that unless the royal family can agree to move
on to a younger generation of princes it faces a series of
brief reigns by elderly kings and possible infighting.

Officials dismiss those fears, saying the monarchy has
proved in the past it can unite around a leader.

“I think everyone will be more interested in stability,
continuity and the prosperity of the kingdom, rather than
advocating a personal agenda,” Information Minister Iyad Madani
told reporters late on Tuesday.

Abdullah, who received condolences from Muslim leaders at
Fahd’s funeral, will meet visiting Western leaders over the
next two days, among them Vice President Dick Cheney and former
President Bush, who sent half a million troops to Saudi Arabia
in 1990 to launch the recapture of Kuwait from Iraq.