Saudi King names Crown Prince as prime minister
King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia has announced a royal decree naming his son and heir Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the kingdom’s prime minister.
Mohammed bin Salman, known as MbS, is promoted from defense minister and has been the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia.
His new role as prime minister is in line with the king’s previous delegation of duties to him, including representing the kingdom on foreign visits and chairing summits hosted by the kingdom, a Saudi official said.
“HRH the crown prince, based on the king’s orders, already supervises the main executive bodies of the state on a daily basis, and his new role as prime minister is within that context,” the official said.
Historically, such delegation of duties has taken place in the kingdom several times, the official said.
The reshuffle contained in the royal decree carried by state news agency SPA shows his second son Prince Khalid as defense minister and Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, as energy minister.
According to the decree, King Salman will still preside over the Cabinet meetings he attends.
The 86-year-old king, the custodian of Islam’s holiest sites, became ruler in 2015 after spending over 2-1/2 years as crown prince.
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He has been hospitalized several times over the past two years for various ailments.
Crown Prince Mohammed has changed Saudi Arabia radically since rising to power in 2017, leading efforts to diversify the economy from its dependence on oil, allowing women to drive, and curbing clerics’ powers.
The crown prince said the kingdom has increased its self-sufficiency in military industries to 15% from 2% and plans to reach 50% under the newly appointed defense minister.
His reforms, however, have come with a crackdown on dissent, with activists, royals, women rights activists, and businessmen jailed.
The killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018 has tarnished his reputation and strained the kingdom’s relations with the United States and other Western allies.
Zainab Sa’id
