Pompeo Meets MBS, Stresses Need for a Continued De-Escalation in Yemen

Local Editor

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Saudi king and crown prince in Riyadh on Monday, with whom he agreed on the need for a continued de-escalation in Yemen and adherence to agreements made last month at talks in Sweden to end a nearly four-year against the country.

Pompeo, who will cut short the rest of his Middle East trip to attend a family funeral, will finish meetings in Oman instead of travelling on to Kuwait, deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said.

Pompeo met separately with King Salman for 35 minutes and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman [MBS] for another 45 minutes, according to reporters travelling with him.

Relatively, the US Embassy in Riyadh tweeted that Pompeo and the crown prince had agreed on the need for a continued de-escalation in Yemen and adherence to agreements made last month at talks in Sweden to end a nearly four-year war.

Pompeo said he would also discuss the investigation into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October, but no details of that discussion were immediately available.

A CIA assessment blamed MBS for ordering the killing of Khashoggi, a longtime royal insider who had become a critic of the crown prince, though Saudi officials deny the prince ordered the murder.

The killing sparked the kingdom's worst political crisis in a generation, strained ties with Western allies including the United States, and focused attention on MBS’ domestic crackdown on dissent and the war in Yemen.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team