Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will not travel to Algeria next month to attend the Arab League summit on medical advice, the royal court confirmed in a statement on state media on Sunday.
Doctors had advised Prince Mohammed, 37, to avoid long-haul flights that might affect his middle ear, said the royal court.
An official statement pointed out “the medical team at the royal clinics” advised that the crown prince “shall avoid long-distance and non-stop travel by plane, to avoid pressure trauma to the ear and affecting the middle ear, which makes it difficult for him to visit Algeria, taking into account that the long round trip within a period not exceeding 24 hours,” said an official Saudi statement.
Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud will head the kingdom’s delegation to the summit instead.
The Saudi statement added that the King Salman “has instructed the minister of foreign affairs to chair the kingdom’s delegation to this summit, reiterating the kingdom’s support to Algeria, for everything that would make the summit successful.”
The confirmed absence of the Saudi crown prince comes in the wake of media reports about the possibility that six other Arab leaders, mostly from Gulf Cooperation member-states, will not attend the Arab summit scheduled to be held in Algiers, on November 1 and 2.
Sources said that with the absence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from the upcoming gathering brings to six the number of Arab leaders likely to be absent.
Turkey’s Anadolu Agency quoted sources close to the summit’s preparation committee as saying, “Five Arab leaders had informed Algeria, before the Saudi crown prince, that they could not participate in the summit.”
It added that the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, will not be going and Crown Prince Mishaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah will attend on his behalf, while UAE Vice-President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum will represent the country’s President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
It is expected that the foreign ministers of the Sultanate of Oman and Bahrain will respectively represent the Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq and the King of Bahrain, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, according to the same sources.
Furthermore, Lebanese President Michel Aoun will not be going as his term ends on October 31 and Lebanese parliament is still struggling to elect a successor for the outgoing president.
None of the five countries has announced their final decision on attending and Algeria has not issued any official statement confirming the presence or absence of these leaders.
The Algerian minister of justice recently handed a formal invitation to Moroccan King Mohammed VI , fuelling speculation about the possible attendance by the Moroccan monarch of the summit. Maghreb experts said his presence could help ease Algeria-Morocco tensions and improve the overall political climate in the North African region.
The announcement of the Saudi crown prince’s absence has unsettled Algerian efforts to highlight optimistic expectations about the summit’s success and to reject sceptical claims it was risking regional isolation by opening up to Iran and ratcheting up its decades-old Western Sahara row with Morocco.
Analysts believe that the absence of Gulf leaders, a likely expression of Arab Gulf solidarity with Morocco in the Western Sahara conflict, could make the attendance of King Mohammed VI unlikely.
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Pro-government media in Algeria downplayed the importance of the absence of the Saudi crown prince insisting that the Algeria summit would be a summit of Arab reunification and will witness a high level participation.
Statements carried by the official Algeria Press Service (APS) said late Saturday President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had talked by telephone with Prince Mohammed.
In the call, it said, the Saudi crown prince “apologised for not being able to participate in the Arab Summit to be held on November 1 in Algiers, in accordance with the recommendations of doctors who advise him not to travel”.
“For his part, Mr President said he understood the situation and regretted the impediment of the crown prince, His Highness the Emir Mohammed Bin Salman, expressing his wishes for his health and well-being.”
The Arab League Summit in Algeria represents the first time the regional body has met since the coronavirus pandemic took hold across the world.
The League, founded in 1945, represents 22 Arab nations across the Mideast and North Africa, though Syria has been suspended amid its long-running civil war. While unified in the call for the Palestinians to have an independent state, the body has otherwise been largely fractious and unable to enforce its mandates.
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