JEDDAH/TUNISIA, 13 November 2003 — The Kingdom’s security situation is reassuring despite Saturday’s bombing at a Riyadh compound that claimed at least 18 lives and injured 120 others, Interior Minister Prince Naif said.
“I want to tell everybody that if I were not satisfied with the security situation in my country I would not have come here,” Prince Naif told reporters in Tunisia.
“If the security situation was not satisfactory, the Saudi leadership would not have allowed the minister in charge of security to travel abroad in the first place,” he pointed out.
“I would like to inform our brethren in Tunisia that Saudi Arabia is in good shape and that what had happened will not cause any harm to it,” he said.
The interior minister reiterated that no leniency would be shown to criminals trying to tamper with the Kingdom’s security.
Meanwhile, experts say planned foreign investment may be held up for some time after the bombing, but the attack will have little impact on the Kingdom’s broader economy.
They say one aim of the attackers is to discourage investors and drive away foreign workers, undermining the country’s economy and security.
“For investors already here, the bombing won’t have any effect. But for those who were thinking about investing here, they will probably delay now for a few months in order to assess the situation,” a European-based banker said.
Diplomats say further attacks could throw into question the continued presence of some foreign firms, saying that some had already been stretched to the limit by temporary staff cut-downs earlier in the year for security reasons.
A spokesman for Britain’s BAE Systems, which employs nearly 3,000 expatriates in defense sales and training projects, said some families had left after the May attacks but most had since returned. “Up to now it’s definitely business as usual,” said BAE’s head of communications, Waleed Abu Khaled.
At first glance, economic fallout from the May attacks in the capital has been minimal. Figures from the Saudia Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) show the value of licenses granted for foreign investment have actually increased since then.
“The numbers are quite healthy. There’s no sign of a drop in the latest figures from September,” a banker said.
Since its establishment in April 2001, SAGIA has approved investments worth SR45 billion ($12 billion) but only one-tenth of that has flowed in. Foreign firms actually have taken more money out than they have put in over the last four years.
“The fact is foreign investment in Saudi Arabia is not high. The country has been a hard-sell ever since Sept. 11, 2001,” said a Riyadh businessman.
The government approved a landmark $2 billion gas deal this week with Royal Dutch Shell and TotalFinaElf and Saudi Aramco, granting Western oil firms the first rights to the country’s huge energy reserves since the 1970s.
Although the attacks will dent Saudi Arabia’s image as a place to do business, they come just as the country is enjoying the fruits of a sustained recovery in world oil prices. “The economy of Saudi Arabia is as strong as ever,” said the businessman. “They have control of inflation and government revenues are strong,” he said.
Meanwhile, authorities have strictly banned the sales of military uniforms to civilians after reports that militants used such uniforms to disguise themselves to carry out terrorist attacks.
On a more personal level, Sameera, an Eritrean maid, who suffered several wounds to her face in the bombing, said the attack took place while she was washing clothes.
Al-Arabiya satellite channel later carried her picture all over the world. The Egyptian family whom she works for had gone out for iftar at a friend’s house. “I was alone in the house at the time of bombing. Don’t ask me anything, I don’t want to recall those horrible moments,” she told Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News.
