RIYADH, 28 Sept 2022:
Saudi Arabia’s king Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud yesterday appointed his son – crown prince and de facto ruler of the country – Mohammed bin Salman as the kingdom’s new prime minister.
It makes for a rare move in a country where the king is traditionally also the prime minister.
According to a royal decree cited by the official SPA news agency, the king reshuffled the government structure to make Mohammed – often referred to by the acronym MbS – the new head of government. The king will also retain the position.
Until now, MbS had held the post of deputy prime minister as well as crown prince – although he has been viewed as the de facto head of government for years.
The last time a crown prince was named as prime minister was during the reign of Saud (1953-64).
King Salman, 86, rose to the throne in 2015. MbS was named crown prince in 2015, a move that effectively handed him the reins of OPEC’s biggest oil producer.
MbS has also served as the kingdom’s defence minister, overseeing his country’s military intervention in Yemen.
In recent years, MbS has been the subject of international controversy and was named by the CIA as being behind the 2018 assassination of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
He has also been responsible for a series of reforms aimed at modernising Saudi Arabia.
– EFE