U.N. Peace Dialogue Said Success for Saudi Leaders

November 1, 2008

Author: Andrew Hammond

Source: Reuters

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20081110-0537-saudi-interfaith.html

World leaders' talks this week at the United Nations on a Saudi push for world peace and religious dialogue were hailed by some as a triumph for Saudi Arabia, but critics dismissed the meeting as a public relations exercise.

The absolute monarchy has aimed to boost its global image after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks in which 15 of the 19 al Qaeda militants who destroyed New York's Twin Towers were Saudis.

The attacks brought an unwelcome focus on Saudi Arabia's austere Wahhabi Islam and left some Western policy-makers asking whether the world would be better off without the undemocratic princes who rule in alliance with clerics.

'Who would have thought that just seven autumns after 9/11 the king of Saudi Arabia would be welcomed to Manhattan and feted as the inspirer of a dialogue for religious tolerance and peace?' said Robert Lacey, author of a history of Saudi Arabia.

King Abdullah, promoted by Saudi Arabia as a moderate who can deal with the rest of the world, met Pope Benedict in the Vatican last year, brought Sunni and Shi'ite clerics to Mecca in March and religious leaders to Madrid in June.

Now the king and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon are organising a special session of the U.N. general assembly on Wednesday and Thursday for talks on 'interfaith' issues and the 'Culture of Peace'.