Saudi Arabia’ s Deputy Minister of Defense Prince Khalid Bin Sultan has been dismissed by a royal decree issued on Saturday, according the Saudi Press Agency which was reported by several middle-eastern websites.
- Saudi Prince Khaled bin Sultan – who made anti-Ethiopian remark last February
The reason for the dismissal is not clear, however, some analysts pointed out that courteous phrases indicating voluntary resignation – such as “upon his request” – are missing in the royal decree.
Thus, it indicates the dismissal came as a result of a fall out between Prince Khalid Bin Sultan and the Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz, who is also Minister of Defense.
The royal decree appointed Prince Fahd Bin Abdullah Bin Muhammad as Deputy Minister of Defense.
It is to be recalled that Prince Khaled bin Sultan made anti-Ethiopian remarks last February in the context of opposing Ethiopia’s right to use the Nile waters. Among his remarks:
“the Ethiopian Renaissance dam….is for political plotting rather than for economic gain and constitutes a threat to Egyptian and Sudanese national security”.
“There are fingers messing with water resources of Sudan and Egypt which are rooted in the mind and body of Ethiopia. They do not forsake an opportunity to harm Arabs without taking advantage of it”.
The government of Saudi formally denounced the hostile remarks last week.
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Check the Ethio-Saudi diplomatic crisis archive for background info.
Prince Fahd’s dismissal has little to do with his comments about Ethiopia and more to do with an ongoing reshuffle within Saudi ruling circle as preparation for succession in the event that the ailing King dies. As far as Saudi perception of Ethiopia is concerned Prince Fahd’s comments reflect a truer picture than we want to admit.
Thanks for the Sausi Rulers , for respecting the words of the Prophet Mohammed- Do not touch the Abyssinians unless they touch you.Ethiopia with a population approaching 100 Million Christians and Muslims are not harming any body but trying to come out extreme poverty.Why blackmail such people .Even for Egypt ,the Ethiopian people are their brothers and sisters who can live together in an integrated economic relationshiop.The same is true to the Sudanes people ,These people of the subregion are the same people.They have to share what ever is available and grow together.I hope our Eritrean brother Isayas of Eritrea will learn some lesson from this.It is shame for him to deny people to have small share of their natural resource,by saying that he supports the Colonial Treaty on Nile water sharing.The correct idea is to share but not to harm Sudanese and Egyptian people existence.And for this only efficient utilization and coopertion is the solution.How is any one to stop people from using some water infront their house.No country has the capcity to do this on this Planet.
They did the right thing. Let’s hope their motivation was pure. Time will tell, but a step in the right direction to be sure. Now, if Al Amoudi ploughs the fields like other farmers, as he has said he may like to, I will believe the words which pass the lips of Arabs. A noble overture in any case. Kudos.
Reblogged this on Allana Potash Blog.