Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Saudi king overhauls top posts
Saudi Arabia’s king is overhauling top government posts following fallout from a Saudi writer’s killing.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia’s King Salman issued a wideranging overhaul of top government posts on Thursday, including naming a new foreign minister, following international fallout from the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi nearly three months ago.
He also ordered a shakeup of the kingdom’s supreme council that oversees matters related to security. The council is headed by the king’s son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose powers, including roles as deputy prime minister and defense minister, were untouched in the overhaul.
The changes appear to further consolidate the crown prince’s grip on power by appointing to key posts advisers and members of the royal family seen as close to him.
It may also signal further efforts to show that changes are being made after the U.S. Senate passed a resolution saying it believes the crown prince is to blame for Khashoggi’s grisly murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
As the crown prince struggles to convince many in Washington and other Western capitals that he had nothing to do with Khashoggi’s killing, the soft-spoken Adel al-Jubeir was replaced as foreign minister by Ibrahim alAssaf, a longtime former finance minister. Al-Jubeir was appointed to minister of state for foreign affairs at the Foreign Ministry.
Al-Assaf is well known to international investors, having led several Saudi delegations to the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Al-Assaf sits on the boards of oil giant Saudi Aramco and the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, both of which are overseen by the crown prince. He holds a doctorate degree in Economics from Colorado State University and a master’s degree from the University of Denver, according to his biography on Aramco’s website.
Al-Assaf had been serving as a minister of state last year when he was reportedly detained at the RitzCarlton hotel in Riyadh along with dozens of highranking officials and princes in an anti-corruption sweep led by the crown prince. Shortly after, al-Assaf appeared back at a Cabinet meeting to the surprise of many.
The Associated Press could not independently confirm reports of al-Assaf’s arrest. The opaque sweep helped Prince Mohammed consolidate power and net the government more than $13 billion in settlements.
The changes announced Thursday include aides to the crown prince, including Musaed al-Aiban as national security adviser — in addition to other positions he holds — and former media minister Awwad alAwwad as adviser to the royal court. Khalid al-Harbi was named head of general security.
Turki al-Sheikh, a confidant of the crown prince, was removed as head of the Sports Authority and replaced by Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal. This means al-Sheikh no longer oversees a cybersecurity body that was led by Saud al-Qahtani, a close aide to the crown prince who was fired from his post and sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for helping to mastermind the plot that led to Khashoggi’s killing.
Khashoggi wrote critically of the crown prince in columns for The Washington Post before he was killed. After denying any knowledge of Khashoggi’s death for weeks, Saudi authorities eventually settled on the explanation that he was killed in an operation masterminded by former advisers to Prince Mohammed. The kingdom denies the crown prince had any involvement, although the CIA has concluded he was complicit in the killing.
Al-Sheikh will now lead the General Entertainment Authority, created to help organize and promote concerts and other events that had long been banned in the conservative country.
Turki Shabbaneh, who has held positions in privately owned Saudi TV channels, was named minister of media. Hamad alSheikh, who studied in the U.S., was appointed minister of education.