RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s ruling family named Prince Salman bin Abdul-Aziz, the defense minister, as the country’s new crown prince Monday — an expected nod that leaves power still within an aging and shrinking circle of leaders in one of the West’s most critical Middle East allies.
The royal decree came the day after the burial of the late heir to the throne, Prince Nayef, who died last week in Geneva and was the crown prince only since November. Prince Salman, 76, is the third successor for 88-year-old King Abdullah in the past year.
The selection reflects the issues of health and age that one day will turn control of the oil giant to a younger generation, as the Mideast is shaken by political upheavals and calls for change that so far have been held back by Gulf leaders.
Salman served for more than four decades in the influential post of governor of Riyadh, the capital, and is the patriarch of family businesses that include stakes in the pan-Arab daily newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat, an important media tool for Saudi’s rulers.
Nayef was considered wary of even the modest changes brought by Abdullah, including pledges to allow women to vote and run in the next municipal elections in 2015. Salman also is viewed a traditionalist, but not deeply tied to the ultraconservative Islamic religious establishment that gives the Saudi monarchy its legitimacy to rule.
Salman’s links to Saudi religious charities brought him into controversy as one of the defendants in a lawsuit by insurance companies that accused Saudi Arabia of funneling money to al Qaeda. A U.S. appeals court in New York ruled in 2008 that the Saudi royal family and other defendants enjoy immunity from such lawsuits.
As part of the succession shake-up, Prince Ahmed was promoted from deputy interior minister to take Nayef’s place leading the ministry, which has played the front-line role in crackdowns on Islamic militants following the Sept. 11 attacks. The move appears to put Ahmed, believed to be in his early 70s, in a position to be in line for the throne.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.