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31.07.02, 06:14
Martin Bright, Nick Pelham and Paul Harris
Sunday July 28, 2002
The Observer
Saudi Arabia is teetering on the brink of collapse, fuelling Foreign Office
fears of an extremist takeover of one of the West's key allies in the war on
terror.
Anti-government demonstrations have swept the desert kingdom in the past
months in protest at the pro-American stance of the de facto ruler, Prince
Abdullah.
At the same time, Whitehall officials are concerned that Abdullah could face
a palace coup from elements within the royal family sympathetic to al-Qaeda.
Saudi sources said the Pentagon had recently sponsored a secret conference to
look at options if the royal family fell.
Demonstrations across the kingdom broke out in March, triggered by a fire in
a girls' school in which 14 pupils died after the religious police stopped
them escaping.
Unrest in the east of the country rapidly escalated into nationwide protests
against the royal family that were brutally suppressed by the police. The
Observer has obtained secret video footage of the protests smuggled out of
the country last week that shows hundreds of Saudis, including women,
demonstrating in support of the Palestinians and opposition to the regime.
The Foreign Office believes that the failure of Abdullah's recent Middle East
peace plan could have terminally undermined his position.
The Crown Prince's main rival, Prince Sultan, the Defence Minister, has been
vocal in his opposition to Abdullah's pro-Western policy. His brother Prince
Naif, head of the Interior Ministry, has led a crackdown on the Saudi media
in the wake of the demonstrations to stop any word of them leaking out.
Abdullah has even sent his own representative to Washington to counter the
influence of the ambassador, Prince Bandar, a son of Prince Sultan.
Anti-Abdullah elements within the Saudi government are also thought to have
colluded in a wave of bomb attacks on Western targets by Islamic terrorists.
The authorities have blamed the attacks on an alleged 'turf war' between
Westerners involved in the bootleg alcohol trade and have jailed five
Britons, a Canadian and a Belgian for the bombings. But British intelligence
sources have confirmed that the attacks were carried out by Islamists linked
to al-Qaeda.
Earlier this year, the accused men were handed sentences ranging from
execution to long prison terms. But lawyers acting for the Britons have told
The Observer that they could soon be free.
The tensions between the royal factions will intensify with the death of King
Fahd. The condition of the king, in hospital in Switzerland, is 'unstable',
doctors said.
British-based Saudi dissident Dr Saad al-Fagih said: 'There is now an
undeclared war between the factions in the Saudi royal family.'
saved from:
www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,764578,00.html