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Tag: Saudi Arabia

  • Oil rises 2% on Saudi Arabia, OPEC cuts

    Oil prices rallied yesterday amid signs that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC’s) production cuts are taking hold.

    Brent crude rose two per cent to $62.74 a barrel. The global benchmark was trading above $63 a barrel at its session highs,  putting it on track for its highest close since late November. West Texas Intermediate, the US marker, was up 1.9 per cent at $53.38 a barrel.

    Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer has $60 per barrel oil benchmark for this year’s budget. Analysts say a rise in oil prices is good for the country that sank into recession last year as a result of sharp dip in oil prices.

    In its monthly report released yesterday, OPEC said its crude output fell 797,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January compared with the prior month. The supply cuts, which also include Russia and nine other non-OPEC producers, took effect on January 1.

    Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, Khalid al Falih, told the Financial Times that the kingdom would reduce production to about 9.8million bpd in March, down from a record high of 11.1million bpd in November.

    Oil descended into a bear market in November, a swift drop from four-year highs seen in October, as traders grew worried over strengthening US production and an outlook for softer global fuel demand. OPEC supply cuts, coupled with US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, have eased concerns of a glut. But weak economic data out of China — the world’s second-largest economy — has continued to stoke expectations that demand is on the decline.

    Brent has gained 16.7 per cent since the start of this year, while WTI has risen 17.5 per cent. Later yesterday, the US Energy Information Administration, was scheduled to release its latest short-term energy outlook, and the American Petroleum Institute will release a weekly report on domestic inventories.

    The EIA has estimated that US production will average 12.1million bpd, which would mark a new record. The market is also closely following trade developments with US and Chinese officials meeting in Beijing this week to continue negotiations.

     

  • Flying Eagles, Saudi Arabia friendly cancelled

    The proposed friendly match between Nigeria’s Flying Eagles and Saudi Arabia fixed for  next week Tuesday in the Asian land  has been cancelled.

    Nigeria’s U-20 team are at present training in Abuja ahead of the African U-20 Cup of Nations slated for the Niger Republic and the Flying Eagles were expected to use the  tie with Saudi Arabia as a tune-up towards the competition.

    An assistant coach with the team, Abdu Maikaba told NationSport that he was told that they won’t be embarking on the journey and that they will intensify their preparation for the competition in Abuja until they depart for Niger Republic on January 27.

    “I have been told that we are no longer travelling to Saudi Arabia for the friendly match. I was not given any reason for the trip’s cancellation,” Maikaba said.

    The Flying Eagles will play in Group A alongside hosts Niger, South Africa and Burundi in the competition that will start in Niamey from February 2 to 17.

  • OPEC unites on oil market stability

    …as Saudi minister meets Kachikwu

     

    Ahead of the December 7 meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting in Vienna Austria, the members were united on bringing back stability to the oil marktet, said the Minister of Petroleum, Industry and Minerals Resources, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Engr. Khalid Al-Falih on Wednesday.

    Speaking in a meeting with his Nigerian counterpart, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmmanuel Ibe Kachiwkwu in Abuja, the visiting minister said that he was in Iraq, Avogabe, Libya and also discussed with some other ministers, who were all longing to return stability to the oil market.

    He however noted that the way and manner of realizing the much needed stability was what they were yet to discuss, stressing that the December 7 meeting would determine that.

    His words: “I have been to Avogabe, I have been to Iraq,  have been in Nigeria today. I have also met with the Libyan National oil company head to have a delegation. I have received calls from a number of ministers. And everybody is longing for everything that brings stability back . What that decision will be I cannot say. But the decision is going to be made on December 7.”

    He added that it would be premature what the decision would be since taken at the meeting as there was yet no clarity and the barrel to market was not helpful in the last three weeks.

    He was confident that the 25 countries would want to agree and the technical committee would meet to receive the analysis from the organization’s technical advisers.

    Read Also: ‘OPEC’s output highest since 2016’

    Collaborating his position, Kachiwkwu said that OPEC members were already speaking with one voice in order to bring back oil stability. According to him, the organization accounts for not more than 35% of global oil output, although the world looks up to OPEC whenever there is volatility.

    He said ultimately every oil producer would like to have an interest in contributing to the stabilization of the oil market.

    Kachikwu noted that his colleague from Saudi Arabia had driven the confidence that all oil producers needed to work together. He added that on his own, he had brought the African producers to support whatever direction OPEC would take.

    He said that “ultimately, the work we are doing in OPEC bloc is that we are bringing countries other than OPEC to see how their contributions can be helpful in the control and stabilization of the market that we will continue to be relevant.”

    He explained that the visit of the Saudi Arabian’s minister was not focused on refining of petroleum, adding that refining was only a side conversation that they had.

    Kachikwu revealed that the meeting was simply on what they would do at the upcoming OPEC meeting.

    The minister however noted that the two countries shared their refining experiences in order to appreciate how his guest’s country accomplished its present feat in refinery.

    He submitted that “no formal thing has been agreed yet but willingness to cooperate with one another. These are usually very strong business decisions. And at the appropriate time we will nose dive into the details of that.”

    Engr. Khalid Al-Falih, said “I have invited his excellency to kindly come and see first-hand the manufacturing complexes and at the same time see our team, and how the investment opportunity can be brought to bear in Nigeria.”

    According to him, the country’s company is the largest as the upstream company and has seen Africa as a very vital market to invest in, and “there is no better place to start than Nigeria.”

    He said that the country was looking forward to investing in gas to power , especially in Africa.

    The Saudi Arabian minister said that “in terms of bilateral energy relationship, I will say that there are too many areas in which Saudi Arabia has become successful to a large degree, attaining a deficit in a few projects by becoming a major export by building a number of large refineries, world scale refineries through a joint venture investments and funding and skills from foreign direct investments. There is technical success. There is finances success for Saudi Arabia becoming a major exporter of a value added crude products and petrol chemicals.”

    He noted that during his next visit to Nigeria, he would explore the opportunities in refining, petrochemicals and gas to power to bring development and opportunities to Nigeria and Africa.

    Kachikwu said that from Europe to Latin America everyone investing in Africa promised funding or technology, challenging the Saudi Arabia totals a cue from China that was already making wave around the world.

    He however explained that the investment that Saudi Arabia was promising to explore in Nigeria was not a gift.

     

  • Khashoggi: ‘Saudi team must have acted on orders’

    A 15-man Saudi team that flew to Turkey before the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the slain Saudi journalist, must have been acting on orders, not necessarily from King Salman, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said.

    Cavusoglu, however, said that it was Saudi Arabia’s responsibility to tell Turkey what happened to Khashoggi’s body.

    Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the Saudi Government and its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, disappeared at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

    Saudi officials initially insisted that Khashoggi had left the consulate, then said he died in an unplanned “rogue operation”.

    The kingdom’s public prosecutor, Saud al-Mojeb, later said that the journalist was killed in a premeditated attack.

    Turkish President, Tayyip Erdogan, had repeatedly demanded for more information from Saudi Arabia.

    He asked Saudi officials to explain who in Riyadh sent the 15-man team suspected of involvement in the killing.

    Erdogan said “the 15-man team did not come to Turkey on their own, they came on orders.

    “Without due orders and permissions, 15 people cannot come from Saudi Arabia to kill their own citizen.”

    Cavusoglu said Erdogan had spoken to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman twice after the killing, and that he was sure the king would not give orders to kill someone.

    Turkish and Saudi officials had carried out joint inspection of the consulate and consul’s residence.

    Erdogan said some Saudi officials were still trying to cover up the crime.

    Ankara had demanded Riyadh to cooperate in finding Khashoggi’s body, which Istanbul’s chief prosecutor said had been dismembered.

    “I think it is Saudi Arabia’s responsibility to find out what happened to Khashoggi’s body and inform us about it, as the 15-man team is still in Saudi Arabia,” Cavusoglu said.

    Saudi Arabia has so far detained 18 people and dismissed five senior government officials as part of an investigation into Khashoggi’s death.

  • ‘Clown Prince’ of Saudi Arabia

    Within the past fortnight, the entire world has now had the tragic privilege of “meeting” Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the 33 year-old scion of King Salman of Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom’s Crown Prince, effectively the successor-in-waiting to King Salman, who is the sixth King in the line of such monarchs that have ruled the Kingdom since the death in November 1953 of the enigmatic founder of modern Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud.

    King Abdulaziz founded modern Saudi Arabia when he finally conquered competing tribes in the area in 1932, then deployed enormous diplomatic smarts by marrying the daughters of tribal leaders he vanquished, thus ensuring their eternal loyalty towards the fledgling Saudi Arabia project and cementing the new Kingdom’s internal stability. All the kings that have ruled Saudi Arabia since the death of Abdulaziz Al Saud have been his sons, meaning each son that has ruled ensured he was succeeded by his brother from the same father.  That was before the present King, Salman, named his own son, MBS – rather than a nephew, as it was expected and proper in such circumstances – as heir to the throne. MBS, in fact, replaced one of his uncles, Mohammed bin Nayef, who had been named Crown Prince before the ambitious Prince usurped that position.

    Watchers of events in Saudi Arabia and its elite have literally never seen anything like this 33 year-old young man who wields very enormous powers in the Kingdom, covering all spheres of life from defence to the economy.  It is not just that MBS is far from the most qualified among his father’s children to hold such a prestigious and powerful position as Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, if it is indeed the father’s selfish wish to restrict the kingship of Saudi Arabia to his direct scions, and deny the same opportunity to descendants of his own brothers from the same father, the founder of the Kingdom. For one MBS is not the eldest of his father’s children, or the most educated; not even the most accomplished.  Among King Salman’s more older children are Sultan bin Salman, who became the first royal, Arab and Muslim to fly in outer space when he flew aboard the American Space Shuttle, Discovery, in June 1985. Another son, Abdulaziz bin Salman has been the Kingdom’s deputy minister of oil, since 1995. Yet another son, Faisal, is the governor of Madinah province, a frequent launching pad to the kingship of the oil-rich Kingdom.

    A proper understanding of the current Jamal Khashoggi scandal in which the Saudi Crown Prince is enmeshed – to the consternation of every decent sensibility the world over, notwithstanding one’s religious, political or other persuasions – should start with an understanding of the young man’s wily, very manipulative and ruthless nature. It is said that when it was time for him to attend college, the calculating MBS refused to toe the path of many young Saudis, especially those members of the Al-Saud royal family like himself, to enrol in a foreign university, especially in the United States. Instead, he chose to remain in Saudi Arabia where he eventually read law at a local university. Aside using that particular fact to burnish his “image” as an “authentic, home-grown” Saudi royal, the strategic move helped “endear” the young manipulator to his father, who was also at the same time, rising within the political ranks of the royal family and holding positions that would eventually lead to the headship of the kingdom.  Not surprisingly, when the other Al-Salman children returned to the Kingdom from their educational and professional exploits overseas, they realized they had been eclipsed by their younger brother who had “shunned” everything Western and had become their father’s “favorite son” and trusted adviser.

    These scheming were to pay off handsomely when King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, King Salman’s predecessor in that office, died in January 2015. The new King Salman quickly named his “favourite son” MBS, then a very young 29 years, to the post of deputy crown prince, among other high positions of state, and delegated many powers, duties and functions to the inexperienced but wily prince.

    This was when the manipulator in MBS came to the fore. He didn’t just want to be the second deputy to his father; he moved in very calculating ways to become the heir-apparent and successor to his father, in ways that would upend the procedures of royal succession known to the kingdom. But MBS had two problems with this seemingly-impossible dream. First was the person and antecedents of the man who occupied the position he sought. Muhammed bin Nayef was a leading member of a group of rising second-generation Saudi princes – and grandson of the founding King, Abdulaziz – who had burnished his reputation in the Kingdom’s fight against Al-Qaeda and other militant Islamic groups that plagued the Kingdom for many decades. MBS’ second obstacle was history: no king in Saudi Arabia who ruled after the Kingdom’s founder, Ibn Abdulaziz, had ever succeeded his own father on the throne.

    But MBS’s apparent manipulative hold over his vulnerable octogenarian father would have none of this common-sense practice. On June 21, 2017, he orchestrated something akin to a coup, forcing out Bin Nayef, his father’s nephew and having himself installed him Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and next-in-line to his own father in the line of succession, a development unseen in the Kingdom since its founder and first king, Abdulaziz, was succeeded by his own son Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, after Abdulaziz’s death in 1953.

    Once he assumed greater power with Bin Nayef’s ouster – and even more curiously – the same MBS who had earlier “shunned” being educated in the West’s academies launched a charm offensive aimed not only at dramatically increasing the investment of Saudi oil revenues in Western companies and start-ups, especially in the US technological industry, but also started a so-called “Davos in the Desert” initiative intended to attract Western business and technological ideas into Saudi Arabia, and diversifying its crude oil-dependent economy.

    The Jamal Khashoggi saga was not the first episode of MBS exposing his real persona as a combustible, take-no-prisoners person who has very unwisely been invested with high positions of state in Saudi Arabia: within his few years in power, he has prompted and fuelled destructive Saudi military interventions in neighbouring Yemen, and has clamped down on another neighbour, Qatar, with an economic blockade over political differences involving perennial regional foe, Iran. MBS also orchestrated the forced – and ultimately futile – resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, while the latter was on an official state trip to a state he considered friendly, Saudi Arabia.

    Against this backdrop, the shocking news of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance in the Saudi Consulate in Turkey did not exactly catch me one surprise; there was even news just before the fatal “fist-fight” at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey that MBS was intent on luring the former Saudi newspaper editor and confidant of past Saudi administrations back to the Kingdom and having him imprisoned.

    A fairly safe assumption, even prediction, is that one way or the other the Khashoggi crisis ultimately consumes the present Saudi monarch and his joke of a manipulative son/Crown Prince – especially in the Western societies he “shunned” but really covets at the same time! That, certainly, will be to the ultimate good of the blessed Kingdom in the Arabian Desert.

     

    • Soboyede, journalist and attorney is based in United States.

  • Turkey opens Khashoggi dossier to CIA

    Turkish intelligence has shared “all the evidence” over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi with the CIA chief during a visit, pro-government media reported on Wednesday.

    CIA Director Gina Haspel visited the Turkish capital Ankara on Tuesday for talks with officials about the killing of Washington Post contributor Khashoggi inside Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate.

    Video images and audio tapes as well as evidence gathered from the consulate and the consul’s residence were shared with Haspel during the briefing at the Turkish Intelligence Organisation (MIT), Sabah newspaper reported.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stopped short of pointing the blame at the Saudi leadership for the death of the Saudi insider-turned-critic.

    But he said in a keynote speech on Tuesday that the murder was meticulously planned, demanding that all those involved brought to justice.

    Read Also: Taliban bomb maker, wife, kids killed in blast – Afghan police

    The whereabouts of Khashoggi’s corpse still remains unknown.

    The 59-year-old vanished on October 2 after entering the Saudi mission to obtain documents for his wedding.

    Erdogan said that a 15-person team came from Riyadh to kill Khashoggi, including by carrying out reconnaissance outside Istanbul and deactivating security cameras at the consulate.

    Turkish police searched the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate, and the consul general’s residence as well as hunting for evidence in an Istanbul forest.

    On Tuesday, the police searched an abandoned car belonging to the Saudi consulate in an underground car park in the Sultangazi district of Istanbul.

    The Saudi leadership has denied involvement in the murder and instead blamed the chain of command.

    Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “strongly said that he had nothing to do with this, this was at a lower level,” US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, adding he had spoken on Monday to the prince and his father King Salman.

    Turkish pro-government media has claimed that Ankara has audio tapes of the killing.

    Last week, the Turkish government denied giving “any kind of audio tape” from the investigation to any US official.

  • Khashoggi: Saudi king meets family as Turkey demand answers

    Saudi Arabia’s king and crown prince have received members of the family of murdered dissident journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, as Turkey added to global pressure on the kingdom to answer questions lingering over the circumstances of his death.

    King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman offered their condolences to Khashoggi’s brother and son during a meeting at the royal palace in Riyadh, official Saudi news agency SPA reported.

    Erdogan also offered his condolences to Khashoggi’s family in a phone call on Tuesday, according to state news agency Anadolu.
    In the same call, he pledged to “shed light on the murder,” Anadolu said, continuing to pressure the Saudi elite.

    “Pinning such a case on some security and intelligence officials will not satisfy us or the international community,” Turkish President, Recep Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara earlier Tuesday.

    He pledged to bring to account everyone “from the person, who gave the order to the person, who carried it out.”

    Erdogan said officials from Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul and a team of 15 people from Saudi Arabia planned the “political murder’’ of

    Khashoggi, a vocal critic of the kingdom’s crown prince, days before his death.

    “A plan, a road map was put into action,” Erdogan told a meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in parliament.

    He further cited “strong evidence’’ that employees of the consulate scouted a nearby forest prior to the incident while “15 Saudi security, intelligence and forensic officials’’ were flown in a day before Khashoggi’s death on separate flights.

    Read Also: NHIS Crisis: Presidency orders due process

    Erdogan’s remarks, three weeks after Khashoggi disappeared inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, follow earlier statements by Riyadh that the journalist was killed by a rogue team, including local cooperatives.

    “Why did these 15 people team up in Istanbul? On whose orders? Who is this local cooperative?” Erdogan asked, without citing any named Saudi officials or members of the royal family.

    “No one should ever think that this case can be covered up before all these questions are answered,” Erdogan said, adding that the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s body are still unknown.

    Local media reported that Turkish authorities conducted searches of a villa near Istanbul and a car believed to belong to the Saudi consulate in connection with Khashoggi’s case on Tuesday.

    Khashoggi’s death on Oct. 2 was described as “murder” for the first time by Saudi Foreign Minister, Adel al-Jubeir on Sunday.

    Riyadh had initially denied that Saudi officials had any knowledge of what had happened to the 59-year-old dissident journalist, saying he had left the consulate after picking up papers for his forthcoming marriage.

    The kingdom admitted on Saturday – 18 days after the incident – that Khashoggi indeed died in the consulate but blamed the death on a

    “fistfight” and said more than a dozen people were being questioned.

    While al-Jubeir told Fox News on Sunday that the kingdom was “determined to punish those, who are responsible for this murder,” Erdogan offered to have the suspects tried in Turkey instead of Saudi Arabia.

    “I call on the top [Saudi] management, King Salman in particular,” Erdogan said Tuesday.

    “I propose putting these 18 people on trial in Istanbul. It is up to them to decide [on a trial], but such is my proposal and my demand.”

    Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusolgu, said earlier in the day that Ankara is also ready to cooperate in a possible international investigation into Khashoggi’s death.

    The effects were being felt in Saudi Arabia as well, with Khaled al-Falih, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, saying the kingdom’s leadership is “very upset” about the case.

    “These are difficult days for us in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we are going through a crisis, resulting from the very regrettable and abhorrent incident that took place in Turkey,” he told an investor conference in Riyadh.

    Western powers in recent days have increased their pressure on the kingdom, with U.S. President Donald Trump holding calls with French President Emmanuel Macron and Erdogan on the subject.

  • Saudi minister pledges full probe into Khashoggi killing

    Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Tuesday the kingdom was committed to a thorough and complete investigation to obtain the truth behind the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.

    Saudi Arabia had sent a team to Turkey for a joint investigation and “uncovered evidence of a murder” in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, the minister told a news conference in Indonesia during a state visit.

    “We expressed commitment to see to it that the investigation is thorough and complete and the truth is revealed and those responsible will be held to account.

    “We will see to it that procedures and mechanisms are put in place to ensure that something like this can never happen again,” al-Jubeir said at the joint news conference with his Indonesian counterpart.

    Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the Saudi government, disappeared after he entered the consulate in Istanbul on October 2, to obtain documents for his marriage.

    Saudi Arabia initially denied knowledge of his fate before saying he had been killed in a fight in the consulate, an explanation that has drawn international skepticism.

    Read Also: Iran arrests groups planning attacks on pilgrims – Minister

    Foreign Minister al-Jubeir said 18 people had been detained and six senior government officials had already been dismissed as a result of the investigation.

    On Monday, al-Jubeir met Indonesian President Joko Widodo who called for a “transparent and thorough” investigation of the killing.

    U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler on Sunday.

    Trump said on Monday that he was still not satisfied with what he has heard from Saudi Arabia about the killing of journalist Khashoggi in Turkey, but did not want to lose investment from Riyadh.

    He had told reporters on Monday that he has teams in Saudi Arabia and Turkey working on the case and would know more about it after they returned to Washington on Monday night or Tuesday.

    Central Intelligence Agency Director Gina Haspel was traveling to Turkey on Monday to work on the Khashoggi investigation, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

    “I am not satisfied with what I’ve heard,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I don’t want to lose all that investment that’s been made in our country. But we’re going to get to the bottom of it.”

    He later told U.S.A. Today that he believed the death was a “plot gone awry.”

    Trump has expressed reluctance to punish the Saudis economically, citing the kingdom’s multi-billion-dollar purchases of U.S. military equipment and investments in U.S. companies.

    Saudi state media said that Prince Mohammed met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Riyadh and discussed “the importance of the Saudi-U.S. strategic partnership.

    Mnuchin’s spokesman said on Twitter the two discussed the Khashoggi investigation as well as Iran sanctions and Saudi economic issues.

    In another development, Turkey Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday that Turkey had not yet shared any information with any country from its probe into the killing of Khashoggi.

    Cavusoglu made the comment in a televised interview with the state-run Anadolu news agency; hours before President Tayyip Erdogan was due to reveal what he has said were details in the case.

    He said that Turkey is ready to cooperate with any international investigation into Khashoggi’s killing.

    Authorities have been investigating Khashoggi’s disappearance after he entered the consulate on Oct. 2. After weeks of denial, Saudi Arabia at the weekend said the journalist had been killed at the consulate.

    Erdogan has said that he would share the information of the investigation in a speech on Tuesday.

    Saudi Arabia brushed off a Western boycott over Khashoggi case as it prepared to launch an investment conference on Tuesday that has been overshadowed by the withdrawal of dozens of top business and government leaders.

    Hundreds of bankers and company executives are still expected to join officials at a palatial Riyadh hotel for the Future Investment Initiative.

    The initiative is an annual event designed to help attract billions of dollars of foreign capital as part of reforms to end Saudi dependence on oil exports.

    The 2017 inaugural conference drew the global business elite, earning it the informal title “Davos in the Desert”.

    However, the 2018 event has been marred by the pullout of more than two dozen high-level speakers following an international outcry over Khashoggi’s killing.

  • Outrage as Saudi Arabia confirms killing of journalist Khashoggi

    •UN, U.S. ‘shocked’ •Victim’s editor at Washington Post daubs Saudi statement ‘Utter bullshit’

    The United Nations and the United States yesterday expressed shock at Saudi Arabia’s confirmation that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside its consulate in Istanbul after a fight.

    Khashoggi’s editor at Washington Post, Karen Attiah, labelled the Saudi statement on his death as utter bullshit.

    The UN Secretary-General, Anthonio Guterres said in a statement in New York that he was “deeply troubled” by Saudi Arabia’s confirmation.

    After weeks of denials, Saudi Arabia confirmed late Friday that Khashoggi was killed in a “fistfight” inside its consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

    A tweet posted by the Saudi Foreign Ministry said the missing Saudi journalist, a columnist with Washington Post, was killed, claims reportedly echoed on Saudi State Television and news agency.

    The tweet said that “discussions that took place with the citizen Jamal Khashoggi during his presence in the Consulate of the Kingdom in Istanbul…did not go as required and escalated negatively which led to a fight…which aggregated the situation and led to his death.”

    The Secretary-General said he was “deeply troubled by the confirmation of the death of Jamal Khashoggi and extends his condolences to Mr Khashoggi’s family and friends”.

    Guterres stressed the need for a prompt, thorough and transparent investigation into the circumstances of Khashoggi’s death and full accountability for those responsible.

    Khashoggi’s editor at the Washington Post, Karen Attiah, said on Twitter that his death resulted from a fight in the consulate as utter bullshit.

    Attiah said that the Saudi explanation was ‘almost insulting’ but pointed out that even if someone was willing to give the country the benefit of the doubt there are several key unanswered questions:

    *What happened to the body?

    *Why did officials lie that he left the consulate?

    *What evidence do they have to support that there was a fistfight?

    “The stupidity of the Saudi explanation is mind boggling,” the editor added.

    Saudi public prosecutor also announced on state television that a primary investigation into high-profile journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance had confirmed he was dead.

    The public prosecutor said: “The discussions between Jamal Khashoggi and those he met at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul … devolved into a fistfight, leading to his death.

    “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expresses deep regret at the painful developments that have taken place in this case and affirms the commitment of the authorities in the Kingdom to bring the facts to the attention of the public and to hold accountable all those involved.”

    Guterres’s comments were the latest in a chorus of concern and condemnation over Khashoggi’s disappearance from UN officials and independent UN human rights experts.

    Over the last few days, statements regarding the Khashoggi disappearance had been released by the offices of UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, the Chair of the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances, Bernard Duhaime, and the Chair of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, Dante Pesce.

    Earlier, White House Spokesperson Sarah Sanders said in a statement that Washington acknowledged Saudi Arabia’s announcement and was “closely” following the developments.

    “We will continue to closely follow the international investigations into this tragic incident and advocate for justice that is timely, transparent, and in accordance with all due process.

    “We are saddened to hear confirmation of Mr Khashoggi’s death, and we offer our deepest condolences to his family, fiancée, and friends,” Sanders said.

    U.S. President Donald Trump at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona said that Saudi Arabia’s explanation for how Khashoggi was killed was incredible adding that what happened at the consulate is “unacceptable”.

    Trump said Khashoggi’s death was a “horrible event” that has not gone “unnoticed” but noted that the announcement on the circumstances of the journalist’s death was a “good first step”.

    “Saudi Arabia has been a great ally, but what happened is unacceptable,” Trump said, adding he prefers that any sanctions against Riyadh do not include cancelling big defence orders.

    The Saudi government said it arrested 18 Saudis as a result of the initial investigation and fired five top officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s adviser Saud al-Qahtani and deputy intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri.

    Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, went missing on Oct. 2 after entering the consulate in Istanbul to obtain documents needed for his upcoming marriage.

    Saudi officials had previously denied Khashoggi had been killed and dismembered inside the diplomatic facility, insisting the journalist left the consulate before disappearing.

     

  • Buhari assures ambassadors of stronger ties

    …Hails Saudi Arabia over immigration policies

     

     

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Abuja assured ambassadors in Nigeria of continued support and ease of access to ensure improved relations and shared benefits for both countries.

    He also commended Saudi Arabia for creating a more enabling environment for pilgrims who visited in 2018.

    Buhari gave the assurance while receiving Letters of Credence from the Ambassadors of the Republic of Turkey, Ahmet Melih Ulueren, High Commissioner of the Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh, E.M.D. Shameem Ahsan and Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Adnan Bin Mahmoud Bin Muhammad Bostasi, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The President, according to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu, told the Saudi Arabian envoy that Nigeria was particularly delighted with the support it had received from the country on security and economic issues, adding that the immigration and logistic challenges encountered by pilgrims had been significantly smoothened.

    He said “I have written a letter to His Majesty suggesting the creation of more bio-metric capturing centres so that Nigerians, who travel for Hajj in thousands, will find the experience easier.

    “I appreciate His Majesty’s large-heartedness in accommodating pilgrims from all the over the world, and do extend our deep gratitude for all the hospitality,’’ he said.

    President Buhari said the economic and trade relations between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia had expanded over the years, describing the historical alliance between both countries as “nostalgic’’.

    The President commended the growing trade relations with Turkey and the historical relevance of the country to the world, assuring the ambassador that His government will support efforts for a deeper and richer relationship.

    He said Nigeria had a lot to learn from Bangladesh on agriculture, noting that the partnership had already started.

    In his remarks, the Saudi Arabian Ambassador said his government had started work on increasing registration offices for pilgrims and easing the immigration processes.

    “We are working on improving the offices. It is a very big project. We are looking at concluding immigration issues from the take-off points like Kano and Abuja so that pilgrims can arrive in Saudi Arabia and move straight to the mosque,’’ he added.

    He said Nigeria and Saudi Arabia share the same vision of ending terrorism and fighting corruption.

    The High Commissioner of Bangladesh said his country’s population of 160 million people had largely remained “self-sufficient’’ in feeding, adding that the experience on self-reliance on agriculture can be shared with Nigeria.

    The Turkish Ambassador congratulated President Buhari for Nigeria’s robust statement at the United Nation’s General Assembly (UNGA), which captured the burning issues of migration and need to restructure UN.