- Title: SAUDI ARABIA: WORLD LEADERS GATHER FOR FUNERAL OF KING FAHD.
- Date: 3rd August 2005
- Summary: (BN14) RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA (AUGUST 2, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: EXTERIOR OF TURKI BIN ABDULLAH MOSQUE, ENTRANCE (2 SHOTS) 0.10 2. GV/MV: SECURITY IN FRONT OF MOSQUE (2 SHOTS) 0.19 3. GV: IRAQI PRIME MINISTER JALAL TALABANI, PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER MAHMOUD ABBAS AND AFGHAN PRESIDENT HAMID KARZAI 0.25 4. MCU: IRAQI PRIME MINISTER JALAL TALABANI AND PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER MAHMOUD ABBAS SITTING INSIDE THE MOSQUE 0.30 5. GV/PAN/GV: MOSQUE FILLED WITH PEOPLE; SECURITY INSIDE MOSQUE (2 SHOTS) 0.49 6. GV: SAUDI ARABIAN DELEGATION ENTERING THE MOSQUE; SITTING DOWN (2 SHOTS) 1.01 7. GV/MV: WORLD LEADERS PRAYING, PAKISTAN'S PRESIDENT PERVEZ MUSHARRAF ON THE END OF THE LINE (2 SHOTS) 1.14 8. GV: MORE OF PRAYING 1.23 9. GV: KING FAHD'S BODY CARRIED INSIDE THE MOSQUE. 1.28 10. MCU: KING ABDULLAH BEING OFFERED CONDOLENCES 1.33 11. GV: PEOPLE GOING OUT OF MOSQUE. 1.38 12. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SUDAN'S MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, MUSTAFA OSMAN ISMAIL, SAYING: "He [King Fahd] is a great loss to the Arab world and the Muslim world. I hope God will accept him and award him for what good he has offered for his nation and the Islamic world." 1.47 13. MV/GV/MV: PEOPLE LEAVING; PALACE; PEOPLE AT THE DOOR OF THE PALACE (3 SHOTS) 2.05 14. GV/PAN: EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT HOZNI MUBARAK AND AMR MOUSA, ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY GENERAL LEAVING. 2.10 15. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IBRAHIM AL JAFAARI, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER, SAYING: "My feeling is that it is a loss but we have hopes in, God help him, King Abdullah." 2.20 16. GV: SAUDI OFFICIAL BEING QUESTIONED BY JOURNALISTS. 2.22 17. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAUDI ARABIAN PRINCE FAISAL BIN MOHAMMAD AL SOUAD SAYING: "King Abdullah has always been a free man and a free governor and now as a king I think that his way of course is the Islamic way, the Shoura. The shoura means asking and getting feedback, but most probably he's always going to act the he's always been acting and it's a set of strategies and plans in his mind and he will apply them according to out laws and customs." 2.53 18. GV/MV: KING ABDULLAH OF SAUDI ARABIA WALKING TOWARDS THE DOOR OF THE PALACE; KING ABDULLAH RECEIVING CONDOLENCES FROM PEOPLE (2 SHOTS) 3.07 19. LV: PALACE 3.14 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 18th August 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA
- Country: Saudi Arabia
- Reuters ID: LVAB8SA0TT5PUCG6O0TJ257DOZ0U
- Story Text: World leaders gather to pay respects at Saudi King
Fahd's funeral.
Saudi Arabia's King Fahd was buried in a simple
unmarked grave on Tuesday (August 2) after a brief funeral
where Muslim leaders mourned the monarch who ruled a global
oil giant for two turbulent decades.
In keeping with the kingdom's austere Islamic
tradition, Fahd, who in life enjoyed enormous wealth and
privilege, was laid to rest in a sprawling public cemetery
in Riyadh alongside hundreds of other unidentified dirt
graves.
Fahd died on Monday (August 1) after 23 years ruling
the strategic Gulf state which is both the world's biggest
oil exporter and the cradle of Islam.
In the Imam Turki bin Abdullah mosque in the capital,
Muslim leaders from across the world joined ordinary Saudis and Fahd's
successor and half-brother Abdullah to perform
Muslim prayers for the dead.
Abdullah has run day-to-day affairs since Fahd's stroke
and is expected to maintain Saudi Arabia's commitment to
stable oil markets and its close alliance with the West.
The brief afternoon ceremony was devoid of pomp. Fahd's
body, wrapped in a brown shroud and laid on a bier, was
carried out of the mosque and driven to his final resting
place in an ambulance.
Hundreds of security forces mixed with mourners in the
mosque and snipers were posted around the cemetery. A wave
of attacks by supporters of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
had clouded Fahd's final, ailing years after his stroke in
1995.
Fahd's reign was marked by regional wars, wild
fluctuations in oil prices and a crisis in relations with
Saudi Arabia's key ally, the United States, after the
September 11 attacks carried out by mainly Saudi suicide
hijackers in 2001.
After the funeral Abdullah accepted condolences and
expressions of support at one of the royal palaces in
Riyadh.
Unlike many Muslim states, Saudi Arabia has set no
mourning period, in keeping with Wahhabi acceptance of
God's will without question. Saudi flags, emblazoned with
the proclamation of faith "There is no God but Allah", flew
at full mast.
Ordinary Saudis gathered at the funeral with leaders
including Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, Syria's
Bashar al-Assad and Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai.
Western leaders and dignitaries, including President
Jacques Chirac of France, began arriving after the funeral
to pay condolences.
U.S. President George W. Bush, whose father had close
ties with Fahd, will send Vice President Dick Cheney and
other officials to offer condolences. Former president
George Bush sent half a million U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia
in 1990 to launch the recapture of Kuwait from Saddam
Hussein.
Fahd, aged about 83, had been in hospital since May 27,
when he was admitted with acute pneumonia. He ascended to
the throne in 1982, at the height of the Saudi petrodollar
boom, with a reputation as an administrator and
international diplomat.
Saudis will pledge allegiance to Abdullah and new Crown
Prince Sultan, who are both aged over 80, on Wednesday
(August 3).
jg/mt
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