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Saudi King Shakes Up Cabinet, Keeping Power in crown prince’s Hands

SHAFAQNA | Leila Yazdani : Saudi Arabia’s King Salman ordered a sweeping government reshuffle on Thursday (Dec 27), replacing key security and political figures including the foreign minister, but keeping the levers of power firmly in the hands of his son and designated heir, Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The reshuffle is likely to be viewed as the king attempting to “clean house” and send a signal to the international community that it has responded to the crisis that followed the journalist’s death in October.

Khashoggi’s death plunged the kingdom into its biggest diplomatic crisis since the September 2001 attacks on the US and the ageing king has become more assertive as he has sought to reassure international allies that he would respond to the incident.

King Salman announced sweeping changes to Saudi Arabia’s cabinet on Thursday as he ordered his first shake-up of the kingdom’s power structures.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman retains his wide-ranging powers. Saudi Arabia‘s King Salman has appointed a new foreign minister as part of a major cabinet reshuffle, according to Saudi state media. The move did not come as a surprise given that al-Jubeir was seen as a “leftover from the [late] King Abdulla era”, aljazeera told. Jubeir, who earned a master’s degree in international relations from Georgetown University, has held a number of diplomatic posts. He rose to prominence by voicing the kingdom’s perspective to the West, including during the Persian Gulf War of 1990-91 and after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, nytimes told.

Significant changes included the appointment of Musaad al-Aiban as national security adviser, a move that revived a previously dormant post, and the naming of former finance minister Ibrahim al-Assaf as foreign minister.

Jubeir’s replacement, Assaf, is not as well known internationally. Both Mr Aiban, a long-serving cabinet member, and Mr Assaf, who headed the finance ministry for two decades before he was briefly detained during Prince Mohammed’s extraordinary anti-corruption crackdown last year, are considered trusted advisers to the king.

The ministers of the powerful national guard, media and education divisions were also replaced as the king issued a series of royal decrees, Financial times reported.

Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman consolidates power as he appoints key allies in a new cabinet reshuffle and a new head of the National Guard,” Ali Shihabi, head of the pro-Saudi think tank Arabia Foundation, said on Twitter.

The king also ordered the reconstitution of two bodies

The king also ordered the reconstitution of two bodies chaired by Prince Mohammed that have been vital to his consolidation of power — the Council of Economic and Development Affairs and the Council of Political and Security Affairs.

Oversight of key institutions, including Saudi Aramco, the state oil company, and the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund, was shifted to the economic council when it was formed in 2015.

Security matters were also consolidated under Prince Mohammed’s watch, with the role of the once powerful interior ministry reduced to dealing mainly with civil issues such as traffic violation.

The changes consolidate the crown prince’s grip on power

The changes appear to further consolidate the crown prince’s grip on power by appointing to key posts advisers and members of the royal family seen as close to him.

The reshuffle will be interpreted as the monarch wanting to bring more experience to a government that has been increasingly populated by figures from the private sector and younger confidantes of the crown prince. There has been widespread speculation since Khashoggi was killed on October 2 that King Salman would seek to bring in checks and balances to rein in some of Prince Mohammed’s rasher impulses. The reshuffle saw the appointment of some young princes, but also veteran statesmen to positions of power. There is an effort to balance the fast pace of reform with bolstering government procedures and institutions,” said Mohammed Alyahya, a senior fellow at the Gulf Research Centre, according to straitstimes.

Saudi King Shakes Up Cabinet may also signal further efforts to show that changes are being made after the U.S. Senate passed a resolution saying it believes the crown prince is to blame for Khashoggi’s grisly murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Analysts saying Jubeir has been used as a scapegoat in Khashoggi scandal.

The decision, they said, did not surprise them because they had been expecting Jubeir to be sacked for some time, even before the Khashoggi affair, press tv told.

“But I now think he’s been used as another scapegoat in this issue,” Marwan Kabalan, head of policy analysis at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, told Doha-based Aljazeera broadcaster. Jubeir, he said, was seen as a leftover from the former monarch King Abdullah who died in January 2015, prompting a widespread purge in the kingdom. “I think he is out now – perhaps at the right time for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

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