Report: Saudi crown prince to attend G20 talks
21 November, 2018
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will attend the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires later this month, Saudi media reported Monday.
It would be the crown prince’s first trip abroad after the Oct. 2 slaying of writer Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate, and would bring him face to face with world leaders from the United States, Turkey, Canada and European countries, among others.
U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders are expected to attend the two-day summit that begins Nov. 30. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has kept international pressure mounting on the kingdom, is also expected to attend.
Saudi media outlets, including Al-Arabiya, quoted Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih as saying that the crown prince’s stop in Argentina will be part of a foreign tour, but no further details were immediately released.
World leaders, many of whom are expected at the G20 summit, have strongly condemned Khashoggi’s slaying and have urged Saudi Arabia to hold everyone involved in the killing accountable.
U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that the crown prince ordered the killing, and experts say such an operation is unlikely to have occurred without the knowledge of the crown prince, who controls all major levers of power in the kingdom.
Saudi authorities, who have offered a series of conflicting accounts since Khashoggi first went missing, deny the crown prince was involved in the killing.
Saudi investigators say that a 15-man team sent to Istanbul exceeded their authority when the lead negotiator decided to kill Khashoggi for refusing orders to return to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi prosecutors said last week they are seeking the death penalty against five men suspected of killing Khashoggi, who had written critically of the crown prince in columns for The Washington Post.
Turkey and Saudi Arabia say that after the agents killed Khashoggi, they then dismembered his body, which has not been found.