RIYADH, 9 December — A high-level US team visiting the Kingdom will discuss the establishment of a mechanism to supervise the activities of charities, a newspaper reported yesterday.
Al-Watan said the 10-member delegation wants to coordinate with Saudi authorities to oversee fund-raising and spending by all charity organizations which collect hundreds of millions of riyals every year.
The delegation, comprising officials from the US Treasury, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State Department and National Security Council, began discussions with Saudi officials yesterday.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on Thursday the team would “discuss ongoing cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the financial war against terrorism.”
A senior administration official denied that the mission was a sign of a much-reported rift between Washington and Riyadh on efforts to freeze assets of terrorists and entities that support them.
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker reiterated on Friday the US satisfaction with Saudi Arabia’s support. “We’re very satisfied with the level of Saudi cooperation. We’re continuing to engage in a number of ways in this ongoing effort which advances our mutual interests and this team visiting there is just one part of that.”
US President George W. Bush received Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal in Washington on Friday on the prince’s third visit to the White House since Sept. 11.
“It was a good meeting. They discussed the situation in the region, including the Israeli-Palestinian situation, the war in Afghanistan, and the general situation in the Gulf,” White House national security spokesman Sean McCormack said after the 30-minute meeting in the Oval Office.
“The president asked the foreign minister to convey to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, his appreciation for the strong cooperation between our two countries,” McCormack added. “The two agreed that US-Saudi cooperation was more important than ever to finding solutions to the challenges facing us.”
The general supervisor of non-governmental organizations in the Kingdom, Daifallah Al-Balwi, said yesterday that the charities had collected SR1 billion ($267 million) so far this year.
Their sources are donations from businessmen, members of the charities, charity work, zakat and returns on investments, Balwi said.
The money is used for charitable projects, including medical treatment, housing and other services in addition to direct aid inside and outside of the country.
There are more than 230 charitable organizations in Saudi Arabia, including 21 for women. All are supervised by government agencies which appoint accountants and auditors to monitor their financial activities. The International Islamic Relief Organization acts in coordination with the government in sending aid to Muslims across the world.
Saudi charities have offices and representatives in some 55 countries and have in the past two decades contributed hundreds of millions of riyals in aid to Palestinians, Bosnians, Afghans and others.
Following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, Western media have accused Saudi charities and businessmen of funding terrorist activities.
The charges were categorically denied by the charities which said they were prepared for an investigation. They said the US campaign was an attempt to suppress Islamic charitable activities.
Saudi Arabia was also accused of not doing enough to crack down on bank accounts of people suspected of funding terrorism, and a number of Saudi businessmen figured on a US list of suspected terrorism financiers.
Riyadh has maintained that it will cooperate with the anti-terror campaign, but has demanded evidence from Washington over suspected bank accounts before taking any action.
