Prime minister to focus on Yemen ceasefire resolution and killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
Theresa May will decline to discuss future trade with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, when the pair meet face-to-face at the G20 summit. The prime minister will instead choose to focus on the killing of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and efforts towards a ceasefire in Yemen.
May must navigate a diplomatic minefield at their first meeting since the growing toll of the war in Yemen and the murder of the Washington Post columnist in Istanbul led to a deterioration in UK-Saudi relations.
It was Downing Street’s intention for the meeting to focus entirely on these issues, rather than trade, a senior UK official said, in a sign of how seriously May viewed the Yemen war and the journalist’s death.
However, she has so far expressed no opinion on the crown prince’s prior knowledge of Khashoggi’s killing and a UK government official suggested she would not confront that aspect of his death. The Foreign Office was more likely to want Number 10 to spend its political capital on trying to end the war in Yemen.
Ahead of her meeting with the crown prince in Buenos Aires on Friday, May described Khashoggi’s murder as “terrible” and said the international community would scrutinise the Saudi investigation to ensure it was credible and transparent.
“I am going to speak to the crown prince of Saudi Arabia but it is the relationship we have with Saudi Arabia that enables me to sit down with him and be robust on our views,” May told reporters. Asked if she would confront the Saudi crown prince on his involvement, a UK government official said: “Our focus is on the investigation.”
Talks may include regional security but trade was “not the focus today,” the official said.
UK officials defended May’s decision to engage with Bin Salman at the G20 summit. During the photo of world leaders at the summit’s opening, various western leaders appeared to pointedly avoid the crown prince. In contrast, Bin Salman clasped hands with Russia’s Vladmir Putin as the two leaders greeted each other with beaming smiles.
from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2TYET2g
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