Saudi no to mediation in Canada row

There is nothing to mediate. A mistake has been made and a mistake should be corrected Adel Al Jubeir,

Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister

riyadh — Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday there is no room for mediation in the kingdom’s deepening diplomatic dispute with Canada, and that Ottawa knew what it needed to do to “fix its big mistake”.

“There is nothing to mediate. A mistake has been made and a mistake should be corrected,” Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir told a news conference in Riyadh.

In an indication that the quarrel may worsen, Al Jubeir said that the kingdom was still “considering additional measures” against Canada, but did not elaborate.

Saudi Arabia on Sunday froze new trade with Canada and expelled the Canadian ambassador in retaliation for Ottawa’s call to free arrested Saudi civil society activists. It also ended state-backed educational and medical programmes in Canada, making plans to relocate tens of thousands of Saudi students and patients to other countries.

Responding to a question about the reason for the activists’ arrests, Al Jubeir said that charges against them would be made public once their cases reach the courts, repeating earlier allegations that they had been in touch with foreign entities. “The matter is not about human rights; it is a matter of national security,” the minister said.

Canadian investments in Saudi Arabia were still ongoing and would not be affected by the dispute, he said.

On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Canada plans to seek help from the UAE and Britain to defuse the row, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The Financial Times (FT) reported the Saudi central bank and state pension funds had instructed their overseas asset managers to dispose off their Canadian equities, bonds and cash holdings “no matter the cost”, citing unidentified sources. —