Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07RIYADH296
2007-02-12 12:50:00
SECRET
Embassy Riyadh
Cable title:  

CROWN PRINCE SULTAN BACKS THE KING IN FAMILY

Tags:  PGOV SA 
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P 121250Z FEB 07 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY RIYADH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4342
INFO RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHRMAKS/COMUSNAVCENT PRIORITY
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
S E C R E T RIYADH 000296 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA FOR GORDON GRAY AND SCOTT CARPENTER
POLICY PLANNING STAFF FOR KRASNER
NSC FOR MIKE DORNAN AND NICK RAMCHAND

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2012
TAGS: PGOV SA
SUBJECT: CROWN PRINCE SULTAN BACKS THE KING IN FAMILY
DISPUTES

REF: REF 06 8912

Classified By: Political Counselor David H. Rundell Reasons
1.4 (b) and (d).

S E C R E T RIYADH 000296

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA FOR GORDON GRAY AND SCOTT CARPENTER
POLICY PLANNING STAFF FOR KRASNER
NSC FOR MIKE DORNAN AND NICK RAMCHAND

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2012
TAGS: PGOV SA
SUBJECT: CROWN PRINCE SULTAN BACKS THE KING IN FAMILY
DISPUTES

REF: REF 06 8912

Classified By: Political Counselor David H. Rundell Reasons
1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (S) Summary: The Al Saud are a political party as well
as a family. As with any political party, there are always
internal rivalries and policy disputes. Ruling family
disputes currently center on the role of seniority in
succession, policy towards Israel, and cuts in royal
compensation. It is well known that tension existed between
Prince Abdullah bin Abudulaziz and Prince Sultan bin
Abdulaziz when they were Crown Prince and Second Deputy Prime
Minister respectively. Now that Abdullah has become King,
Crown Prince Sultan, like any good number two, is standing
squarely behind his boss. End Summary.


2. (S) The new Succession Law created winners and losers
(see reftel). Merit, rather than age, has become the primary
factor in electing a new King. Most princes have accepted
this change. After all, under the old system very few
princes ever expected to become King. Now, many more
actually have a shot at the throne. Only Abdulrahman bin
Abdulaziz, the next in age after Crown Prince Sultan, has
been outspoken in his protests about the new arrangements.
Riyadh Governor Salman bin Abdulaziz is often the referee in
family disputes. According to a reliable contact with good
access to ruling family circles, Salman recently had a blunt
conversation with Abdulrahman in which he told his brother to
"shut up and get back to work".


3. (S) We have also picked up first hand accounts of
intra-family tension over policy towards Israel. Some
princes, most notably National Security Advisor Bandar Bin
Sultan bin Abdulaziz, are reportedly pushing for more contact
with Israel. Bandar now sees Iran as a greater threat than
Israel. Other princes believe that Saudi Arabia's
traditional concerns with the Islamic holy places and the
plight of the Palestinian should remain paramount.


4. (S) By far the most widespread source of discontent in
the ruling family is the King's curtailment of their
privileges. King Abdullah has reportedly told his brothers
that he is over 80 years old and does not wish to approach

his judgment day with "the burden of corruption on my
shoulder." Three well informed sources report that thousands
of princes and princesses have had their toll free mobile
phone service disconnected. Likewise, Government paid suites
that some princes maintained year round in Jeddah hotels have
been canceled. The ability of royal family members to
request unlimited free tickets on Saudia Airline has been
curtailed. Often more tickets than needed were requested and
the excess tickets were sold by princes for cash. We have a
first hand account that a wife of Interior Minister Prince
Naif attempted to board a Saudia flight with 12 companions,
all expecting to travel for free. To her outrage, she was
told that new rules from the King allowed her to take only
two free guests. The new rule reportedly disgusted Prince
Mishal bin Majid bin Abudulaziz so much that he has taken to
driving between Jeddah and Riyadh to show his annoyance.
Yet, another new practice is giving traffic tickets to
princes. Again we have a first hand account of Prince Yussif
bin Saud bin Abdulaziz being stopped and given a speeding
ticket even when the police realized he was the son of a
former king. The contact who saw this said he was amazed to
see the son of a king being asked to get out of his Audi and
show the police a driving license


5. (S) While curtailing phones and flights may be an
annoyance, King Abdullah is also cutting into some of the
ruling family's more serious entitlements. There are six
million guest workers in Saudi Arabia who all need visas.
Princes have long had access to work visas. When an employer
wants to bring in labor, he must apply to the Ministries of
Interior and Labor for permits. Some princes and prominent
courtiers have been granted "block visas", which are similar
to bearer bonds in that they can be cashed in by anyone who
holds them. These block visas are generally for low skilled
laborers and have long been obtainable from princes for a
price. Saudiazation made it harder to obtain standard visas
for foreign workers and thus drove up the price of visas in
the market. Princes with visas to sell like this. However,
in an effort to make Saudiazation work, King Abdullah has
reigned in, and by some accounts eliminated, the issuance of

block visas and thus cut the income of many junior princes.


6. (S) Land is the most important source of income for
many princes. The government, specifically the Ministries of
Finance and Municipal and Rural Affairs, often transfers
public land to princes, who in turn sell it at huge profit to
real estate developers. This is not all that much different
than the deal between King Charles and William Penn, just a
different century. During the last weeks of King Fahd's life
there were many reports of princes and senior courtiers
racing to finalize land grants before the regime changed. A
contact with direct access to the information reports that
Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz and Prince Abudulaziz
bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz made hundreds of millions of dollars
when they sold land for the new King Abudulaziz Economic City
to the Dubai real estate development company EMMAR. Another
source with less direct access to information has added the
names of Mitab bin Abduallah bin Abdulaziz and Saudi Arabian
Investment Agency Governor Amar Dabbagh to those who have
profited from EMMAR's real estate development plans in Saudi
Arabia. Since ascending the throne, King Abdullah has
dramatically reduced the practice of transferring public land
to favored individuals.


7. (S) In recent months tensions in the ruling family
reportedly came to the boil with Minister of Interior Prince
Naif bin Abdulaziz and Riyadh Governor Prince Salman bin
Abdulaziz sought to openly confront the King over reducing
royal entitlements. According to well established sources
with first hand access to this information, it was Crown
Prince Sultan who stood by the King in this quarrel. Sultan
reportedly told his brothers that challenging the King was a
"red line" he would not cross. He advised that stability and
internal security are the ruling families foremost goals. "If
we challenge Abdullah where will it end?" Sultan also advised
his brothers that the Kingdom faces serious dangers in Iraq
and Iran. It is no time for internal disunity. He reportedly
said something similar to Benjamin Franklin's admonishment to
the Continental Congress that, "We must all hang together or
we will certainly all hang separately." The Crown Prince's
arguments carried the day due to the force of his personality
and his position as the eldest full brother of the so called
Sudairy Seven. Our contact went on to say that while King
Abdullah is "wise and kind", Crown Prince Sultan is "smart
and shrewd." He added that the King's great popularity with
the people of Saudi Arabia, resulting in part from his
cutting royal entitlements, made opposing him unwise.


8. (S) As further evidence of Sultan's support for
Abdullah, this source reported that he had himself recently
gone to see Crown Prince Sultan to finalize a land transfer
he had been promised by a prince. Sultan noted that as Crown
Prince he had the authority to finalize the deal, however the
King had asked for a hiatus on such transfers. Sultan said
he wished to show his support for the King and asked that the
transfer be delayed. Another contact reported that Prince
Turki bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz went to see the Crown Prince
after the King had turned down his request for a land grant.
Crown Prince Sultan told Turki, who is his son-in-law, that
he would neither issue a land grant nor raise the issue again
with the King. He told Turki that the King had made his view
clear and that a Crown Prince must support his King. The
Crown Prince has said basically the same thing in public.
When asked about expected cabinet changes, Sultan told the
press that cabinet changes were the prerogative of the King
and the King alone. Finally, the King and Crown Prince are
often seen together in public with no visible sign of tension
or animosity between them. This was true during their two
day visit to Najran and more recently when they went to
Jeddah to welcome Mecca Governor Abd al- Majeed bin Abdulaziz
home from medical treatment in Europe.


9. (S) Comment: Most of the Arabian Peninsula's ruling
families have histories of intra-family conflict. The Al
Sabbah of Kuwait, the Nahayan of Abu Dhabi, the Al Thanni of
Qatar and the Al Qassami of Sharjah have all at one time or
another murdered or deposed each other. In the early
twentieth century, King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud
faced strong opposition from his cousins in the Saud Al Kabir
branch of the ruling family. In 1962, Crown Prince Faisal's
deposition of his brother King Saud nearly tore the Kingdom
apart. Intra-family conflict has been, and will remain, the
greatest potential threat to regime stability in Saudi
Arabia. Prince Sultan recognizes this. Numerous contacts

have now confirmed that in the interest of family unity, upon
which his own future rests, Crown Prince Sultan is
supporting, or at least not openly opposing, King Abdullah's
various reform efforts. End Comment.
OBERWETTER