Publish Date : 24-Jan-2015
Saudi King Salman pledged on Friday to maintain existing energy and foreign policies then quickly moved to appoint younger men as his heirs, settling the succession for years to come by naming a deputy crown prince from his dynasty's next generation. King Abdullah died early on Friday after a short illness. By appointing his youngest half-brother Muqrin, 69, as Crown Prince and nephew Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, as Deputy Crown Prince, King Salman has swiftly quelled speculation about internal palace rifts at a moment of great regional turmoil.
Oil prices jumped in an immediate reaction as news of Abdullah's death added to uncertainty in energy markets. King Salman, thought to be 79, takes over as the ultimate authority in a country that faces long-term domestic challenges compounded by the plunging price of oil in recent months and the rise of the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria, which vows to toppled the Al Saud.
King Salman must navigate a white-hot rivalry with Shi'ite Muslim power Iran playing out in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Bahrain, open conflict in two neighbouring states, a threat from Islamist militants and bumpy relations with the United States.
In his first speech as king, shown live on Saudi television, Salman pledged to maintain the same approach to ruling the world's top oil exporter and birthplace of Islam as his predecessors and called for unity among Arab states. "We will continue, God willing, to hold the straight course that this country has followed since its establishment by the late King Abdulaziz," he said. Mohammed bin Nayef becomes the first grandson of the kingdom's founding monarch, King Abdulaziz, known as Ibn Saud, to take an established place in the line of succession. All Saudi kings since Abdulaziz's death in 1953 have been his sons and the move into the next generation had raised the prospect of a palace power struggle. King Salman also appointed his own son, Mohammed bin Salman, Defence Minister and head of the royal court.
Reputedly pragmatic and adept at managing the delicate balance of clerical, tribal, royal and Western interests that factor into Saudi policy making, King Salman appears unlikely to change the kingdom's approach to foreign affairs or energy sales. Despite rumours about King Salman's health and strength, diplomats who have attended meetings between the new king and foreign leaders over the past year have said he has been fully engaged in talks lasting several hours at a time. Many Saudis in a country with a young population will be unable to recall a time before King Abdullah's rule, both as monarch from 2005 and as de facto regent for a decade before that. His legacy was an effort to overhaul the kingdom's economic and social systems to address a looming demographic crisis by creating private sector jobs and making young Saudis better prepared to take them.
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