Obama aims to reassure Saudi Arabia on ties

gulftoday.ae

RIYADH: US President Barack Obama will aim on Friday to reassure his Saudi hosts on the strength of their alliance, frayed by Washington’s diplomatic opening towards Iran and reluctance to use force in Syria.

Obama is expected late on Friday in Saudi Arabia, the fourth and final stop of a tour this week after the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy.

The White House was late to announce Obama’s stop in Riyadh, following his European tour, fuelling speculation on the motives of the US president’s second visit since his election in 2009 to Washington’s decades-old ally in the Middle East.

Dozens of US lawmakers have urged Obama to publicly address Saudi Arabia’s “systematic human rights violations” when he visits the kingdom on Friday.

Sixty-five members of Congress urged him to nevertheless bring up the prickly subject of human rights in Saudi Arabia, including efforts by women activists to challenge the country’s ban on female drivers.

“We urge you to combine symbolic actions with direct advocacy for human rights reforms,” the lawmakers, led by conservative Trent Franks and rights champion Frank Wolf, wrote to the president late Wednesday.

“Your meetings with King Abdullah and other officials will be an opportunity to publicly integrate human rights concerns into the US-Saudi relationship,” the bipartisan group wrote.

A former wife of King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz appealed to Obama for help in the case of four daughters she says are being held in a royal palace.

Alanoud AlFayez, 57, a Jordanian national who has lived in London since her divorce from the Saudi monarch in 2003, said her children needed to be “saved.”

“Since 13 years, my daughters Sahar, Maha, Hala and Jawaher are being held captive,” Al Fayez said. “They need to be saved and released immediately.”

At the Arab League summit in Kuwait on Tuesday, Saudi Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz accused the international community of “betraying” Syrian rebels, outgunned in their war against President Bashar Al Assad’s regime.

According to the Syrian opposition, Washington has imposed a veto on its allies against arming rebels with anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons, over fears they could fall into the hands of extremists.

Agencies