Welcomed by Wrath, Prosecution… MBS Tries to Restore his Battered Image at G20
Local Editor
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman faces the possible wrath of an Argentinian prosecutor as well as the potential cold shoulder from world leaders during a G20 summit in Buenos Aires this week that marks his first foray outside the Arab world after the 2 October murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of agents within his political and security entourage.
MBS arrived in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, landing in the city after an official visit to Tunisia, amid calls for his prosecution for war crimes by human rights organizations over his handling of the war in Yemen.
Late on Wednesday, Human Rights Watch declared that the Argentinians are moving ahead with a case against him, asking a judge to begin collecting evidence from Saudi and Yemeni sources and the country’s diplomats to render an opinion on his diplomatic status.
The 33-year-old crown prince could have cancelled the trip, and it carries some risks. But he’s betting his gamble will pay off.
Argentina has a constitutional clause allowing for prosecution of international figures on war crimes charges, though it remains unlikely that Argentinian judges indict him, or that Buenos Aires’ center-right government would implement any ruling.
G20 summits are generally an opportunity for leaders of the world’s richest, their chief bankers and finance ministers to discuss trade and the management of the global economic system. Last year, Saudi King Salman cancelled his trip to the G20 summit in Hamburg, dispatching his finance minister and another top official instead in the wake of the crisis surrounding the ongoing blockade against Qatar
Amid continuing global uproar over the killing and dismemberment of the Saudi journalist, MBS too could have easily cancelled – dispatching another official in his place. Instead, he arrived a day or two early.
The summit may present some awkward moments at the seaside Costa Salguero convention center, where the event will be held. It will be the first time the prince will confront Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada, with which Riyadh cut trade ties over a tweet by Ottawa’s foreign minister calling attention to human rights abuses in the kingdom, in what was seen as an epic temper tantrum by the young would-be monarch.
German chancellor Angela Merkel and the Dutch premier Mark Rutte, who have both suspended weapons sales to Saudi over the Khashoggi killing and the Yemen war, will also be attending the leaders’ summit, which begins on Friday.
As always, huge and raucous demonstrations are planned against the gathering of the world leaders, and protesters will likely invoke MBS’ name and image as a trope to underscore a capitalist system they consider brutal and exploitative.
But the prince probably calculate that the prestige of appearing among world leaders in photos and handshakes outweighs the risks of encountering protesters or snubs.
Being photographed shaking hands with world leaders not only solidifies his international stature and quells any doubts about whether he’s become a pariah to lawmakers in the US considering punishments against him; it may also subdue any talk of replacing him as heir to the Saudi throne at home.
On Wednesday, more possible evidence tying Prince Mohammad to the murders emerged in a report by the newspaper Milliyet, revealing that the team of killers dispatched from Riyadh initially planned to be killed in two villas in the northwestern Turkish province of Yalova owned by two Saudi businessmen, Mohammad Ahmed al-Fozan and Abdulaziz Ibrahim al-Omary, it described as friends of MBS.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
