WASHINGTON, 2 August 2005 — As the world awoke Monday to the news that King Fahd had died and his brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, has been appointed the country’s new monarch, Washington reacted with caution.
King Fahd, 84, had close ties with United States and the control over the world’s largest oil supplies made him one of the region’s most influential figures.
Arab News spoke to three Middle East experts in Washington about his contributions and the impact of his death on Saudi Arabia and the region.
Wyche Fowler, US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1996 to 2001, and current chairman of the Middle East Institute, had praise for both the late king and his successor. During the five years he resided and worked in Riyadh, he said he met often with then-Crown Prince Abdullah. “Saudi Arabia is fortunate in this transition to have a leader with the foresight and integrity of the former crown prince,” he said, adding he wanted also to praise King Fahd.
“My tribute to King Fahd is that he should be remembered gratefully as a steadfast ally of the US who played an important role as witnessed in the Saudi-US cooperation with Mujahedeen in the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan...”
Amr Hamzawy, a senior associate at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who recently returned from a research trip to Saudi Arabia, took up the relay from Amb. Fowler by outlining what can be expected by the appointment of Abdullah to king.
In America, Hamzawy said, there are two big illusions. One is that the death of King Fahd will create a crisis of political succession in Saudi Arabia. “There will be no crisis in succession, as both King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan are in place. King Fahd was critically ill for the last several weeks, and Abdullah’s succession was announced well before King Fahd’s death,” said Hamzawy.
The second illusion is that Saudi policy will change; “Abdullah has been ruling the country since 1995, and he has managed to emerge as the undisputed leader of Saudi Arabia. He will remain in charge,” said the Egyptian-born expert.
Abdullah’s popularity within the Kingdom will help him rule, he said. “Everyone really likes him, and they believe he is sincere and trying to introduce reforms.” He added that King Abdullah is not expected to make any major changes in the Kingdom’s international or regional politics.
“Prospects of political reform in Saudi Arabia with the new king are interesting, because within the last year, Abdullah has emerged as the reform-minded leader.” Hamzawy added that when it comes to political reforms: “I expect Abdullah to push forward, to generate a momentum for reforms in the coming years.”
“Don’t forget it is Abdullah who introduced constitutional and legal reforms in the country, including municipal elections.”
He said King Abdullah has also returned to the tradition of diwan, a weekly meeting between political head and selected citizens, and is now meeting regularly with heads of local tribes. “This is a return to the long traditional methods of the ruling in the country.”
King Abdullah has even managed to secure a certain degree of freedom in Saudi Arabia, said Hamzawy. “There are current debates and discussions in the press, even with TV channels, on politics and even on religion. This is an emerging margin of freedom that didn’t exist 10 years ago.”
Hamzawy said he expects the new king to push forward on two levels: Legal and constitutional reform, and to continue to enlarge the margin of freedom to debate domestic politics in Saudi Arabia. “This needs a clear commitment from the royal family, because legal voices run into trouble without their backing on this issue,” he said.
King Abdullah “will impact positively the general environment in Saudi Arabia,” said Hamzawy.
Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), agreed by saying the new king has impressed many in Washington: “I never met anyone who met King Abdullah who wasn’t tremendously impressed by him.”
“People here feel that King Abdullah is a Saudi patriot who’s on the right side,” said Alterman. “And that he’s working for reform and is trying to lead the Kingdom into a constructive and better direction.”
Asked if he expected any dramatic change now that Abdullah has become king, Alterman said: “Much of the change already started when he was crown prince; Abdullah was instrumental in moving things along.”
“One of the key questions that is unanswerable is how much strength will he have over the next 10 years.
It’s up to fate. Will Saudi Arabia have the succession of relatively elderly leaders or will a man of energy be able to make his mark and change the direction of the Kingdom?
