Crown prince shores up support with overhaul of the government
ISTANBUL » Saudi Arabia replaced its foreign minister and shuffled other key government posts Thursday as its leaders continue to grapple with the backlash to the killing by Saudi agents of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The government overhaul, announced in a string of decrees by the Saudi leader, King Salman, elevated allies of the king’s son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to head a critical security agency and other posts, inmoves seen as aiding the prince’s ongoing consolidation of power.
No women were named to senior cabinet positions.
Adel al-Jubeir, a veteran diplomat who is well known inWashington and served as ambassador there for eight years before being appointed foreign minister in 2015, was replaced by Ibrahim al-Assaf, a former finance minister, according to thedecrees. Jubeirwas named minister of state for foreign affairs, with responsibilities that remain unclear.
In the past fewmonths, Jubeir had served as the public face of the kingdom’s labored efforts to explain the death of Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist and critic of his country’s leadership who was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
Saudi Arabia faced a torrent of criticism after denying any knowledge of Khashoggi’s fate for weeks after his disappearance and then as graphic details about his killing emerged. Turkish officials said that a team of Saudi agents, acting on orders from highranking officials in the Saudi government, had been dispatched to Istanbul to carry out what Turkey said was a premeditated murder.
Khashoggi’s body, which was dismembered, according to Turkish and Saudi officials, has not been found. The Saudi government belatedly acknowledged the involvement of its operatives but insisted they had disobeyed instructions to bring Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia alive.
Saudi officials have privately signaled their concern about the international fallout. Some had predicted in recent weeks that the response would include a government shakeup that might also provide more seasoned counsel to the 33-year old crown prince. The changes did not, however, challenge Mohammed’s nearly absolute control of the kingdom’ s foreign and domestic policy, and he retained his powerful post as defenseminister.
Assaf, the incoming foreign minister, has served as finance minister, a member of the board of SaudiAramco, the state oil company, and as a governor of the International Monetary Fund.
He was also detained for several months last year during a roundup of hundreds of business executives, princes and government ministers inwhat Saudi authorities called an “anti- corruption” sweep.
Musaed al-Aiban, a longtime government ministerwhomost recently headed a national cybersecurity authority, was named national security adviser.
Another appointee, Prince Abdullah bin Bandar, a young royal seen as close to the crown prince, was named head of the Saudi National Guard, a powerful security agency whose role has been to protect the royal family.