By Morocco World News/ Maghreb Intelligence
By Morocco World News/ Maghreb Intelligence
Rabat, June 21, 2012
Capitals around the world are holding their breath following the uncertainty that has engulfed the dynastic succession in Saudi Arabia after the death within seven months of two pretenders to the throne, Sultan and Nayef. The sudden death in Geneva, because of cancer, of Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, has revived concerns, especially since he was for 40 years in the heart of power in Riyadh and was among the strong men of Saudi Arabia.
King Abdullah, in power since 2005, is also in very bad shape. At the age of 89 years, the Custodian of the Holy Sites suffers from back problems and does not work more than three hours per day. According to U.S. medical sources, the king cannot go out or stand for more than a few minutes. And it’s not only the health of the King that is worrisome. That of the new hair apparent, Salman Bin Abdulaziz, aged 78, is not reassuring at all, according to the the same sources.
In 2010, Salman had spine surgery in the U.S.. He also had a stroke. Ever since, he has been unable to move one of his hands. Moreover, the U.S. and British embassies in Riyadh, particularly well informed, are already looking to the country’s current strongman who apparently is the 7th Sudairi- named after the favorite wife of the founder of the dynasty, King Abdulaziz, and the mother of the late King Fahd and Princes Sultan and Nayef: That is the new Interior Minister Ahmed Ben Abdulaziz, 71 years old, who was raised by his brother, King Fahd.
It seems that the task of finally bringing order to the succession will fall on Ahmed, should he be crowned as the Custodian of the Holy Sites. The only drawback to this speculation is that Prince Ahmed, unlike his predecessors, is far removed from the influential Wahhabi clerics associated with the Al Saud since the founding of the kingdom in 1932. However, although most of the political power is now exclusively in the hands of Al Saud, other families are associated with them. This is the case of the Sudairi clan, which gave several wives to Saudi princes. Two other clans are also particularly tangled in the center of power. These are the Al Ibrahim and Al Abderrahmane families, a number of whose female members are married to princes of the Al Saud family. With the death of Nayef and the illness of King Abdullah and Crown Prince Salman, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is at a crossroads.
The Al Saud dynasty has to imperatively renew itself to meet geostrategic contingencies with an Iran that is becoming increasingly pressing and an Arab Spring that has relegated Riyadh to the rank of an anachronistic oddity.
