Riyadh: World leaders headed to Saudi Arabia yesterday to offer condolences following the death of King Abdullah, with US President Barack Obama cutting short a trip to India to pay respects.
Obama had been scheduled to visit the Taj Mahal but cancelled that following the death of King Abdullah and will travel to Riyadh on Tuesday to meet the new Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the White House said.
Since King Abdullah took the throne in 2005, Saudi Arabia has been a prime Arab ally of Washington, and last year joined the coalition carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State jihadist group.
Other dignitaries arrived in Riyadh to pay respects, including Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, on a rare visit to the regional rival.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, Prince Charles and French President Francois Hollande were among other leaders expected to fly in to offer condolences.
King Abdullah was a cautious reformer who led the Gulf state through a turbulent decade in a region shaken by the Arab Spring uprisings and Islamist extremism.
He died on Friday at the age of about 90 after being hospitalised with pneumonia. World leaders have praised the king as a key mediator between Muslims and the West, but campaigners criticised his rights record and urged King Salman to do more to protect freedom of speech and women’s rights.
Gulf rulers, and leaders including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, were among those who attended King Abdullah’s traditionally simple funeral at Riyadh’s Imam Turki bin Abdullah mosque on Friday. Africa was also represented, with Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.
President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon and other leaders from the continent arrived yesterday to pay respects.
On Friday the late king’s body, wrapped in a cream-coloured shroud, was borne on a litter by members of the royal family wearing red-and-white checked headgear. The body was quickly moved to nearby Al-Od public cemetery and buried, in a grave marked only by a book-sized plain grey stone. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak arrived later to deliver condolences, as did Iraqi President Fuad Masum. Masum had met with Abdullah last November, helping to repair long-strained relations between the neighbours.
On Friday evening hundreds of Saudis queued to enter a royal palace where they rubbed cheeks and kissed the hands of their new leaders, in a symbolic pledge of allegiance.
Mourning ceremonies were planned for yesterday and today evenings at another palace, official media said. Obama paid tribute to King Abdullah as a “valued” ally as the State Department indicated cooperation between Washington and Riyadh would continue.
In his first public statement as king, King Salman, 79, vowed to “remain, with God’s strength, attached to the straight path that this state has walked since its establishment”. He called for “unity and solidarity” among Muslims and vowed to work in “the defence of the causes of our nation”. AFP
