JEDDAH, 2 May 2004 — Western expats yesterday admitted a sense of insecurity has taken hold within their communities following the terrorist assaults in Yanbu.
“Saudis are overwhelmingly opposed to terrorism. However, an element of insecurity has started creeping in,” said one British teacher.
“I can’t believe such attacks will continue,” he said. “There is no future for terrorists in a land where security is so strong and getting even stronger. The noose is tightening round their necks.”
The Kingdom cannot afford to do away with expat workers, including Westerners, another expatriate said. “The Kingdom depends heavily on foreign workers. They constitute nearly one-third of the estimated 26 million population. There are tens of thousands of Westerners in the country, including some 30,000 Americans,” he pointed out.
“Despite the increasing violence, many of them will stay, as they draw salaries higher than elsewhere,” he said, adding that the US Embassy’s order last month asking American families and non-essential staff to leave the Kingdom went mostly unheeded.
“What’s happening now could be a direct consequence of the way American soldiers tortured Iraqi prisoners,” said a 60-year-old Saudi businessman. However, this view was challenged by a European businessman in Jeddah. “This was clearly planned long before the pictures were published. There’s no way they could have got hold of coast guard uniforms and a coast guard vehicle overnight.”
As news of the attack spread via satellite channels and the radio, there were frantic telephone calls to newspaper offices to know the details about the victims.
Inquiries with Asian diplomatic missions revealed they had no information and were awaiting an official statement from the Interior Ministry.
