Former Saudi Intelligence Chief Named 2nd Deputy PM

Reuters04.02.2013 New Appointments
Former Saudi Intelligence Chief Named 2nd Deputy PM

Former Saudi Intelligence Chief Named 2nd Deputy PM

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Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has named former Intelligence Chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz as Second Deputy Prime Minister, a role historically seen as making the incumbent second in line to become King.


Holders of the position have gone on in the past to be Crown Prince of the world's top oil exporter, where the ruling family controls most senior government posts and, in the absence of elections, wields near absolute authority.

The role means Prince Muqrin will be in charge of the day-to-day running of government if both King Abdullah, who is also Prime Minister, and Crown Prince Salman, who is First Deputy Prime Minister, are both unwell or travelling abroad.

Prince Muqrin, who is about 70, is the youngest son of the Kingdom's Founder Abdulaziz ibn Saud, and headed Saudi intelligence until July 2012.

“His Royal Highness Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, Adviser and Special Envoy to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, is appointed Second Deputy to the Prime Minister,” said a Royal Court decree carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

Saudi Arabia, a strategic ally of the United States and the birthplace of Islam, faces long-term domestic worries such as growing energy consumption and high youth unemployment as well as fears about regional instability after the Arab Spring.

King Abdullah is nearly 90 and had a long back operation in November, his third round of surgery in two years. He has since been seen on television chairing Cabinet and meeting visiting leaders. Crown Prince Salman, who turns 77 this year, gave a speech on his behalf at a recent Arab summit in Riyadh.

The succession beyond King Abdullah, who is the fifth of Ibn Saud's sons to reign, is a sensitive subject among the al-Saud dynasty's hundreds of Princes.

Unlike European monarchies, Saudi Arabia has no formal line of succession beyond the King and Crown Prince. Under new rules made by King Abdullah in 2006, the succession must in future be determined with the help of a council of the ruling family.
That means the position of Second Deputy Prime Minister does not necessarily mean its holder will automatically become Crown Prince after the death of the King, as was the case in the past.

The last person to hold the position of Second Deputy Prime Minister was Prince Nayef, who went on to become Crown Prince before he died last June. The post had also been held by King Abdullah, by the late King Fahd and by Crown Prince Sultan, who died in 2011.

Saudi Arabia's Executive Branch, headed by King Abdullah, can act through the Cabinet or through the Royal Court.

Born in 1943, Prince Muqrin is a former Air Force Officer who trained in Britain and later served as Governor of the Hail and Medina regions of Saudi Arabia.

He was made Foreign Intelligence Chief in 2005 but was replaced last year by Riyadh's former Ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

Since being replaced as Intelligence Chief, Muqrin has acted as an adviser to the King, and Diplomats say he has played a role in major meetings between the monarch and visiting foreign leaders.

Prince Muqrin has always been seen as an outsider in the succession process because his mother was from Yemen.

Source: Reuters; SPA

 



 
 

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