RIYADH – Saudi king Abdullah returned home yesterday after a three-month medical absence and unveiled benefits for Saudis worth some $37 billion (€27 billion) in an apparent attempt to insulate the world’s top oil exporter from an Arab protest wave.
The king, who had been convalescing in Morocco after back surgery in New York in November, stood as he descended from the plane in a special lift. He then took to a wheelchair.
Hundreds of men in white robes performed a traditional Bedouin sword dance on carpets laid out at Riyadh airport for the return of the monarch, thought to be 87.
King Abdullah left his ailing octogenarian half-brother, Crown Prince Sultan, in charge during his absence.
Before the king arrived, state media announced plans to help lower- and middle-income people among the 18 million Saudi nationals. These included pay rises to offset inflation, unemployment benefits and affordable housing.
Saudi Arabia has so far escaped the popular protests against poverty, corruption and oppression that have raged across the Arab world, toppling entrenched leaders in Egypt and Tunisia and even spreading to Bahrain, linked to the kingdom by a causeway.
Significantly, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa was among the royalty thronging the tarmac when King Abdullah flew in.
King Hamad freed about 250 political prisoners yesterday and has offered dialogue with protesters, mostly from Bahrain’s Shia majority, who demand more say in the Sunni-ruled island.
Riyadh would be worried if unrest in Bahrain spread to its own Shia minority in the oil-rich east. Hundreds have backed a Facebook call for a Saudi “day of rage” on March 11th to demand an elected ruler, greater freedom for women and the release of political prisoners.
Saudi analysts said the king might soon reshuffle his cabinet to revive stalled reforms.
Saudi stability is of global concern. A key US ally, the top Opec producer holds more than a fifth of world oil reserves.
The king announced no political reforms such as municipal council polls demanded by opposition groups. Saudi Arabia has no elected parliament or parties and allows little public dissent.
Jeddah-based Saudi analyst Turad al-Amri welcomed what he called “a nice gesture” from the king, saying the measures were not unprecedented or prompted by Arab protests elsewhere.
But other Saudis were critical. “We want rights, not gifts,” said Fahad Aldhafeeri in one typical message on Twitter.
“They are under pressure. They have to do something. We know Saudi Arabia is surrounded by revolutions of various types, and not just in poor countries, but in some such as Libya which are rich,” said Mai Yamani, at London’s Chatham House think tank.
“Basically what the king is doing is good. But it’s an old message of using oil money to buy the silence, subservience and submission of the people,” she said.
Saudi Arabia holds more than $400 billion in net foreign assets, but faces social pressures such as housing shortages and high youth unemployment. – (Reuters)