French President Emmanuel Macron arrived this Saturday (5) in Jeddah, on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, to discuss with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman the “stability” in the Middle East and the situation in Lebanon.
The strongman of the kingdom received the Frenchman in the early afternoon at the royal palace of the great Saudi port city. After a meeting, they should have lunch together.
Macron is one of the first Western leaders to meet Mohammad bin Salman since the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at his country’s consulate in Istanbul. The crown prince’s image was heavily tarnished by this case.
The French head of State justified this meeting considering that a dialogue with Saudi Arabia, “the first country in the Gulf in terms of size”, is necessary in order to be able to “work for the stability of the region”.
But that “does not mean that we are complacent”, he guaranteed, alluding to this murder.
With the Saudi crown prince, he should discuss the situation in Lebanon, where the economic crisis was aggravated by the diplomatic dispute that opened in October with several Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia, which froze its imports.
He intends to take advantage of the resignation, announced on Friday, of Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi, at the origin of the crisis, for having criticized Riyadh’s military intervention in Yemen.
Praising this resignation, Macron expressed his hope of “re-engaging all Gulf countries in the relationship with Lebanon”.
A year ago, and after the deadly explosion in the port of Beirut, Macron has been committed to helping Lebanon out of the worst socio-economic crisis in its history.
Relations between Beirut and the Arab Gulf states have become strained in recent years due to the growing influence of pro-Iranian Hezbollah.
“France has a role to play in the region (…) but how to work for the stability of the region, how to deal with Lebanon and deal with so many issues while ignoring the first country in the Gulf in terms of geography and size”, highlighted the president French.
Macron arrived in Jeddah, from where he will depart in the afternoon, on the second day of a journey across the Gulf that led him to meet the other two strongmen in the region: Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
The stopover in Dubai made it possible to sign a historic agreement for the acquisition by the Emirates of 80 Rafale fighters – a record order for the fighter that entered service in 2004 – for 14 billion euros.
Other military contracts (helicopters and armaments) brought the total to 17 billion.
In Doha, Macron thanked Qatar for organizing the withdrawal of 258 Afghans, “threatened because of their commitments” or “for their ties to France”, who will be repatriated to France after passing through the emirate.
Alongside this presidential trip, a complaint was filed in Paris on Friday against the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in particular for the financing of terrorism.
The plaintiffs, victims of the war in Yemen, accuse the two countries of having made an “alliance” with the extremist group al-Qaeda, according to their lawyer Joseph Breham.
Saudi Arabia, an ally of the United States, has intervened in Yemen since 2015 at the head of a military coalition in support of the government against the Houthis rebels, politically supported by Iran.
The Emirates withdrew its troops from Yemen in 2019, but remain members of the coalition.
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