Saudi King Declines Visit From Iraq's Prime Minister

[Purveyor]

Monday, 30 April 2007

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2007 (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has turned down a request to meet with Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Baghdad's foreign minister said Sunday, denying, however, that the refusal was an outright snub.

On Sunday, The Washington Post reported Abdullah had refused to receive Maliki before a regional summit on Iraq security set for next week because the Sunni leader was skeptical of Maliki's Shiite government.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, however, said the newspaper report was "not true," although he acknowledged a requested visit had been denied.

"This time the Saudi king, his schedule was not suitable for this timing," Zebari told CNN.
"So they did not decline it, but they said the king has an internal tour which he does every now and again. So we couldn't agree on the timing," he said, speaking in Baghdad.

The apparent snub comes as Saudi Arabia, long a US ally in the Middle East, has been increasing critical of the US-backed Iraqi government.

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http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/3347/152/