Report: Saudi king rejected meeting because Maliki worsened sectarian divide

Saudi King Abdullah

RIYADH - Saudi Arabia refused to receive Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki because it believes he is deepening the Shia-Sunni sectarian conflict in Iraq, a Riyadh-based Arab diplomat said on Wednesday.

King Abdullah declined to meet Maliki before a conference on Iraq opening Thursday in Egypt because Riyadh “believes he entrenched sectarian divisions in the political process in Iraq,” the diplomat told AFP, requesting anonymity...

The next day, the White House urged the Saudi monarch to meet with Maliki, saying it was in Riyadh’s long-term national security interest to do so as a neighbour of Iraq.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the Post’s report was ”not true.” He acknowledged a requested visit had been denied, but said this was because a suitable timing could not be agreed.

Read the rest at the Kjaleej Times

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