Who died last Monday?

Dignitaries from around the world have been lining up to greet the new ruler of Saudi Arabia, the 81-year-old King Abdullah. His half-brother, King Fahd, who had suffered a long illness, died last Monday. The American vice-president Dick Cheney was among the callers. The United States is a major ally of Saudi Arabia’s although ties between the two were strained by the September the 11th attacks on New York and Washington. Frank Gardner, a frequent visitor to the kingdom, considers what the future may hold in store for its new monarch: Four years ago I attended a royal celebration in Riyadh to mark the late King Fahd’s twenty Muslim years on the throne. It was the month after 9.11 and Saudi Arabia was in denial. People were finding it hard to accept that 15 out of the 19 suicide hijackers were Saudis. It was all a plot, I was told, to discredit the Arabs. Prince Naif, the Interior Minister in charge of internal security, spoke of a mysterious ’third force’, ie. Israel.