Saudi
Coup "Imminent" As Crown Prince's Uncle Arrives To Oust
"Toxic" MbS
31
October, 2018
The
youngest brother of Saudi Arabia's King Salman has returned from
self-imposed exile to "challenge" Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman (MbS) "or find someone who can," reports the Middle
East Eye.
Prince
Ahmad bin Abdulaziz
Prince
Ahmad bin Abdulaziz is reportedly hoping to oust his 33-year-old
nephew in the wake of an allegedly state-sanctioned murder of
journalist Jamal Khashoggi. MbS has virtual control over Saudi
Arabia after a June 2017 shakeup in which King Salman removed
Muhammad bin Nayef as heir apparent.
Crown
Prince Mohammed bin SalmanThe septuagenarian prince, an open critic of bin Salman (MBS), has travelled with security guarantees given by US and UK officials.
“He and others in the family have realised that MBS has become toxic,” a Saudi source close to Prince Ahmad told Middle East Eye.
"The prince wants to play a role to make these changes, which means either he himself will play a major role in any new arrangement or to help to choose an alternative to MBS." -Middle East Eye
Prince
Ahmad has reportedly been meeting with other members of the Saudi
royal family living outside the kingdom, along with "figures
inside the kingdom" who have encouraged
him to usurp his nephew.
According to MEE,
"there
are three senior princes who support Prince Ahmad's move,"
who remain unnamed to protect their security.
According
to Saudi dissident Prince Khalid Bin Farhan Al Saud, he
expects a coup to be orchestrated against King Salman and MbS, as
reported by the Middle
East Monitor, which
reports that a coup is "imminent."
"The
coming period will witness a coup against the king and the crown
prince," said Prince Khalid while commenting on the Khashoggi
murder.
Khashoggi,
a 59-year-old Washington Post journalist who had criticized the Crown
Prince, was murdered on October 2 after entering the Saudi consulate
in Istanbul to obtain paperwork ahead of his upcoming wedding. His
body has not been found, but is believed to have been dismembered
after he was reportedly choked to death.
Prince
Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, 76, has been living in the UK for several years
after serving as Saudi Arabia's deputy minister of interior between
1975 - 2012, and briefly as minister of interior in 2012. Ahmed was
seen as a potential candidate to succeed King Salman in the early
2000's, however he was sidelined in March 2014 amid one of several
shakeups within the House of Saud.
On
November 4, 2017 bin Salman began arresting as many as 500 Saudi
princes, government ministers and businessmen - detaining them in the
Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh. Private jets were grounded to prevent
people from fleeing, while over 2,000 domestic bank accounts and
other assets were frozen as the government targeted up to $800
billion in wealth that was reportedly "linked to corruption."
Prince
Ahmad was protected from the purge, as MbS was unable to touch any
sons of King Abdulaziz, founder of the modern Saudi state.
Standoff
with Turkey
As MEE notes,
Prince Ahmad's return comes amid a tense standoff between Saudi
Arabia and Turkey following the Khashoggi murder. Turkish authorities
have demanded to know what happened to the journalist's body and have
requested audio of the execuiton rumored to exist.
In a thinly veiled attack on the crown prince, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday accused the Saudis of protecting the person responsible for the murder.
“A game to save somebody lies beneath this,” Erdogan told reporters following a speech in parliament on Tuesday. “We won’t leave Khashoggi’s murder behind.”
The Turkish president, who outlined some of the investigation into Khashoggi’s murder in an address last week, has promised to reveal more details about the killing but has so far refrained from doing so. -Middle East Eye
Despite
Saudi chief prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb and Istanbul's chief prosecutor
Ifran Fidan meeting twice over the last several days, no progress has
been reported.
Saud
al-Mojeb
The
Saudis, meanwhile, continue to refuse Turkish investigators access to
a well located at the home of the consul-general which lies 500
meters from the consulate.
So
far 18 suspects have been arrested in the murder, 15 of whom were
members of a death squad reportedly sent to kill Khashoggi. MbS,
meanwhile, has denied any knowledge of the operation which
reportedly included five
members of
his personal security detail - three
of whom have accompanied the Crown Prince on high-profile trips to
Washington, London and Paris.
Prince
Ahmad's opposition to MbS
The
exiled prince has challenged his nephew at least three times,
according to MEE.
First, in the summer of 2017, when the king's brother was one of three members of the Allegiance Council, a body of senior royals tasked with choosing the succession, to oppose bin Salman’s appointment as crown prince.
Prince Ahmed pointedly did not give an oath of allegiance to his nephew when he was made King Salman's heir.
Second, when Prince Ahmad and King Salman’s brother, Abdelrahman bin Abdulaziz, died last year. Only two pictures were hung at the reception given by Prince Ahmad, that of King Abdulaziz and the current monarch. The crown prince’s portrait was notably missing.
Third, last month, when Prince Ahmad approached Yemeni and Bahraini protesters outside his London home who were calling the al-Sauds a criminal family.
Ahmad
told the hecklers that the Saudi royal family as a whole is not
responsible for the war in Yemen - just the king and crown prince.
"They are
responsible for crimes in Yemen. Tell Mohammed bin Salman to stop the
war,"
Ahmad told them in Arabic.
Theresa
May out-hawks ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis, refuses to back US calls for
Saudi Arabia-Yemen ceasefire
RT,
31
October, 2018
PM
Theresa May has refused to back calls from key US figures for a
ceasefire in Yemen – where UK ally Saudi Arabia carrying out an air
campaign partly with UK bombs – instead backing a ‘de-escalation’
of the conflict.
During
PMQs on Wednesday, May was encouraged to back a United Nations
resolution that demanded an immediate ceasefire in the war-ravaged
country, after the US increased pressure on the Saudi-led coalition
and the Houthi rebels.
Protest
outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in London © REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
US
Defence Secretary James Mattis said all parties must come to the
negotiating table within 30 days, while Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary
of State went further, telling them to immediately end the
airstrikes.
Asked
whether she supports the fresh calls from the US, May could only
assert: "We
certainly back the US call for de-escalation in Yemen," and
maintained that the UN statement issued earlier this year calling for
all parties to agree steps towards a ceasefire was still the UK’s
position.
"As
the foreign minister [Alistair
Burt] said in the House yesterday,
a nationwide ceasefire will only have an effect on the ground if it
is underpinned by a political deal between the conflict parties,”
May added.
In
a statement Pompeo said missile and drone strikes launched by the
Iran-backed Houthi rebels against Saudi Arabia and the UAE should
stop, and the Saudi-led coalition must cease air strikes in civilian
areas of Yemen.
“The
time is now for the cessation of hostilities, including missile and
UAV strikes from Houthi-controlled areas into the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” Pompeo
said, using an acronym for unmanned aerial vehicles.
“Subsequently,
Coalition air strikes must cease in all populated areas in Yemen,” he
added.
Labour
criticized May for failing to support the US calls and condemned the
UK's ongoing support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
A
spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn said: “It's
quite clear that the prime minister is not supporting the call for an
urgent ceasefire by the US administration, which has called for a
ceasefire within 30 days.
“It
highlights the role the British government has played in supporting
the Saudi-led coalition's bombing of Yemen and the advice given to
the Saudi military by British forces.”
The
Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) have
estimated that 56,000 people have been killed in armed violence in
Yemen since January 2016. The number is over five times more than the
widely reported which have stood at 10,000 for the last two years.
Conflict
described as the ‘most terrifying humanitarian catastrophe on the
planet’
Saudi
Arabia has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds paying for British
MPs to visit the country.
FactCheck
found that at least 33 MPs have been on Saudi-funded trips to the
Kingdom, since its troops entered Yemen in 2015. On most occasions,
all expenses were covered.
In
total, British MPs have accepted more than £208,000 worth of trips
since 2015.
Getting
MPs to visit appears to be a growing priority for Saudi Arabia. Over
the last five years, increasing numbers of MPs have gone – and the
amount being spent on each person has gone up.
Since
the intervention in Yemen, Saudi representatives have also given
government ministers expensive gifts – including gold-plated,
diamond-encrusted bookends, a silver horse ornament, and food hampers
worth up to £350 each. The gifts were accepted, but not taken
personally by ministers.
Prince
Ahmad bin Abdulaziz returns to Riyadh with UK and US security
guarantees and a brief to cut the crown prince down to size
Prince
Ahmad bin Abdulaziz, the younger brother of King Salman, has returned
to Saudi Arabia after a prolonged absence in London, to mount a
challenge to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman or find someone who
can.
The
septuagenarian prince, an open critic of bin Salman (MBS), has
travelled with security guarantees given by US and UK officials.
“He
and others in the family have realised that MBS has become toxic,”
a Saudi source close to Prince Ahmad told Middle East Eye.
“The
prince wants to play a role to make these changes, which means either
he himself will play a major role in any new arrangement or to help
to choose an alternative to MBS.”
He
and others in the family have realised that MBS has become toxic
The
source said that the prince returned “after discussion with US and
UK officials”, who assured him they would not let him be harmed and
encouraged him to play the role of usurper.
Apart
from those western guarantees, Ahmad is also protected by his rank.
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