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Pompeo to press Saudi crown prince over Khashoggi’s murder
RIYADH, Jan 14, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on
Sunday arrived in Riyadh, where he is set to press Saudi Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman to hold the killers of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
accountable.
The top US diplomat, on an extensive Middle East tour, embarked on his
second politically sensitive visit to Saudi Arabia since Khashoggi’s murder
inside its Istanbul consulate sparked an international outcry.
“We will continue to have a conversation with the crown prince and the
Saudis about ensuring the accountability is full and complete with respect to
the unacceptable murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” Pompeo told reporters in Qatar,
before flying to the Saudi capital.
“We’ll… make sure we have all the facts so that they are held
accountable, certainly by the Saudis but by the United States as well.”
After landing in Riyadh, Pompeo pushed for Saudi Arabia to continue its
investigation into the murder, in talks with Adel al-Jubeir, minister of
state for foreign affairs, and the Saudi Ambassador to Washington, Prince
Khalid bin Salman.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, was murdered on October 2 in what
Saudi Arabia called a “rogue” operation, tipping the kingdom into one of its
worst diplomatic crises and subsequently straining ties between Riyadh and
Washington.
Pompeo’s visit to Saudi Arabia, where he will be hosted by Prince Mohammed,
is part of an extensive eight-day trip to Amman, Cairo, Manama, Abu Dhabi,
Doha, Riyadh, Muscat, and finally Kuwait City.
– Smiles with MBS –
US President Donald Trump has brushed aside international outrage to stand
by Prince Mohammed over the murder of Khashoggi, whose corpse was dismembered
at the consulate.
His support has come despite the US Central Intelligence Agency’s reported
conclusion that Prince Mohammed very likely ordered the murder. A bipartisan
resolution approved by the US Senate last month also held the crown prince
responsible for the killing.
Riyadh prosecutors have announced indictments against 11 people and are
seeking the death penalty against five of them. But Prince Mohammed, whose
right-hand aides were allegedly involved in the murder, was exonerated by
prosecutors.
On a previous visit to Riyadh at the height of the Khashoggi affair,
Pompeo’s broad smiles with the crown prince outraged some Americans.
However, Trump has said Washington wants to preserve the alliance with the
oil-rich kingdom, which he sees as a bulwark against common foe Iran and a
lucrative buyer of US arms.
Rights groups have called on Pompeo to also press Prince Mohammed over the
jailing of women activists in the kingdom, amid claims that some of them
faced sexual harassment and torture during interrogation.
“I am struck by what is not included in Pompeo’s itinerary: the brave women
activists of Saudi Arabia, who are being held in the kingdom’s prisons for
seeking rights and dignity,” Alia al-Hathloul wrote in The New York Times
Sunday.
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Hathloul’s sister, Loujain, is among more than a dozen activists arrested
last May — just before the historic lifting of Saudi Arabia’s decades-long
ban on women drivers.
– Gulf crisis –
Pompeo met the Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani during his visit
to Doha, where he refused to comment on reports Washington had recently
considered military action against Tehran.
He also called on Qatar and other Gulf countries to end the worst political
rift in the region for years, which has seen Doha diplomatically and
economically isolated by neighbouring former allies for the past 19 months.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt — all US allies
— cut ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorist
groups and seeking closer ties to Saudi arch-rival Iran.
Qatar — also a US ally — denies the allegations and accuses the countries
of seeking regime change.
“As for the GCC… we are all more powerful when we’re working together
when we have common challenges in the region and around the world,” Pompeo
said, referring to the six member nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
“Disputes between countries that have a shared objective are never
helpful.”
He added that “President Trump and I both believe the ongoing dispute in
the region has gone on too long”.
However, Pompeo later admitted in a Q&A session with US embassy staff in
Doha that no progress was made on resolving the issue.
Mediation efforts by the United States, which at first appeared to back the
boycott of Qatar, have stalled, as highlighted by the recent resignation of
US envoy Anthony Zinni.
For Washington, turning the page on the crisis is essential for the
successful launch of the Strategic Alliance of the Middle East (MESA), which
is a NATO-style security pact that includes Gulf countries as well as Egypt
and Jordan.
The US and Qatar held the second “strategic dialogue” between the two
countries on Sunday and signed agreements on defence, education and culture.
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