Date:31/10/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/31/stories/2007103156881800.htm

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International

Saudi King’s visit starts on a sour note

Hasan Suroor

Human rights, arms trade protesters line up the route, raise slogans

— Photo: AP

CEREMONIAL WELCOME: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles welcome King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in London on Tuesday.

LONDON: Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz’s four-day state visit to Britain — the first by a Saudi monarch in 20 years — nearly descended into a PR disaster after British Secretary of State David Miliband pulled out of one of the events because of family commitments, prompting the Saudis to downgrade their own representation for the occasion.

The mood had turned sour even before the King landed here as British officials reacted sharply to his remarks in a BBC interview accusing Britain of failing to act on Saudi intelligence that may have averted the July 7 London bombings.

Charge rebutted

Intelligence agencies were quick to rebut the King’s claim, pointing out that “no prior warning of the attacks were received from any source.

“The Saudis provided information about possible planning for an attack in the U.K. which was materially different from the attacks that took place in London on July 7 [2005],” a statement on the MI5 website said.

There was also annoyance over the King’s comment that Britain was not doing enough to tackle terrorism.

The British line, fed to the media through unnamed sources, was that Britain would not take “lectures” from Saudi Arabia on fighting terror.

Negative headlines, reflecting concerns over Saudi Arabia’s human rights record and allegations of corruption in British-Saudi arms deals, greeted the King as the visit officially got off the ground on Tuesday morning with a royal guard of honour.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh greeted him when he arrived at the Horse Guards Parade to a ceremonial welcome. But the pomp and ceremony was quickly overshadowed by protests as the Queen and her guest drove to Buckingham Palace.

Protesters, who had lined up along the route, carried placards and raised slogans such as “Human rights before BAE” and “Reopen corruption inquiry” . They were demanding an independent probe into allegations that BAE Systems, Britain’s biggest arms supplier, gave bribes of up to £1 billion to win a multi-billion pound arms deal with Saudi Arabia in the eighties.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair stopped an inquiry last year claiming that it was damaging to U.K.-Saudi relations.

The acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, Vince Cable, is boycotting the visit and said he would not attend a state banquet to be held in the King’s honour.

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