JEDDAH, 1 May 2003 — Interior Minister Prince Naif said that the government has no knowledge about the contents of a security message issued by the US Embassy in Riyadh yesterday warning that terrorist groups may be in the final phases of planning attacks against the American community in Saudi Arabia.
“There is nothing that currently suggests that something like this is imminent, but given the circumstances and developments taking place something might,” Prince Naif said.
“I know nothing of this matter. This is a matter relating to the country concerned and we have not received any information from anyone regarding this matter,” Prince Naif told reporters.
The US Embassy advised the American community in Saudi Arabia that it has received information that terrorist groups may be in the final phases of planning attacks on American interests in Saudi Arabia. The embassy admitted that it had “no information as to the likely target” and added that US citizens in the Kingdom should “take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness.”
The embassy did not say whether the information had come from the Saudi authorities. It did, however, list potential targets as “facilities where US citizens and other foreigners congregate, such as residential areas, clubs [sic], restaurants, places of worship [sic], outdoor recreation events and beaches.”
There are currently between 30,000 and 40,000 Americans living and working in the Kingdom, down from 60,000 a decade ago. A voluntary departure order was issued by the embassy to its staff and dependents in February this year and, unlike the British Embassy, it was not withdrawn at the end of the US-led war on Iraq.
“We have heard this sort of thing many times before,” said Marcus Scorer, a teacher in Jeddah. “Clearly the official line is intended to ‘cover their rear’ in the event of something actually happening, but there is so little detail in the communication as to make it all but useless. It is hedged with conditionals and so general in content that it does little but worry people.”
Robert Taylor, an American working in the Kingdom for about a year in business development, had much the same reaction. “I got the warning in my e-mail, and as letters written to both my office and home addresses,” he said. “I looked at them and disregarded them. I have seen too many of them now.” He said that he would continue acting in the way he has since he arrived in the Kingdom. “I’m taking no extra precautions, just keeping my wits about me as usual,” he said.
The warning comes just one day after the announcement from Riyadh and Washington that US forces are to be withdrawn from Saudi Arabia. The issue of US forces in the Kingdom has been used by Al-Qaeda to attack US interests.
Prince Naif said the Kingdom was following with concern the issue of Saudi detainees in Guantanamo and expressed the hope to see them back home soon.
Asked whether the issue was raised with US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld during his recent visit to the Kingdom, he said he did not take part in the negotiations but Prince Sultan, the second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, was giving the matter the utmost consideration and was closely following it.
Concerning the presence of Saudi prisoners in Iraq, Prince Naif said since Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the 1991 Gulf War there had been talk of Saudis being held in Iraq “but until now no one has returned to the Kingdom.”
“It has not been established until now that they (the prisoners) were found in a particular place, but the search will continue. I am confident that if they are there, their whereabouts will be known. This will take place when any future Iraqi national authority takes over in Iraq.”
Turning to employment in the Kingdom, Prince Naif stressed the need for Saudis to find jobs, saying the state would spare no effort to ensure this was a top priority.
Asked about the unemployment rate, he replied that Labor Minister Dr. Ali Al-Namlah had already discussed this and that the rate stood at eight percent, “but the actual number of job seekers from university and other higher education graduates is large.”
He hoped young Saudis who received training would be more concerned with working in the professions they trained for rather than seeking office jobs.
