RIYADH, 31 March 2003 — Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal yesterday said the Kingdom will not participate in the war on Iraq in any form. He was briefing the Shoura Council on Saudi Arabia’s stand on the US-led war.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia rejects the current war and involvement in it in any form,” Prince Saud told the council.
“The Kingdom has emphasized the importance of Iraq’s compliance with UN Security Council resolutions. The United Nations should be the referee for any action on the Iraqi issue,” Prince Saud said.
He said the war posed a danger not only to the Iraqi people but also to the region.
The prince reaffirmed the Kingdom’s position, which rejects the war and calls for the maintenance of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq.
He also expressed the Kingdom’s readiness to provide emergency humanitarian aid for the Iraqi people.
Prince Saud also denounced what he called biased foreign media reports against the Kingdom’s stand on the Iraqi crisis.
Dr. Hamoud Al-Badr, the Shoura’s secretary-general, said Prince Saud’s briefing was a recognition of the internal and external Council’s status.
In a statement issued last Sunday, the Shoura expressed its deep concern over the US-led invasion of Iraq and called for an immediate end to the war.
The consultative body, which consists of intellectuals, academics and businessmen, expressed its solidarity with the Iraqi people.
“Iraq’s independence and national unity must be protected and its resources managed by its people,” the Shoura statement said.
Al-Badr said yesterday’s Shoura session focused among other things on the mineral investment bill proposed by the Council’s Economic Affairs Committee.
