Scholz addresses Khashoggi murder in Saudi Arabia
Jeddah
During his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Chancellor Olaf Scholz also addressed the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “We have discussed all issues that revolve around questions of civil and human rights,” he said on Saturday after the conversation in the port city of Jeddah in response to a journalist’s question. “That’s the way it should be. And you can be sure that nothing that needs to be said has gone unanswered.” Scholz also said that he raised the issue of freedom of expression. But he gave no further details.
The crown prince is held responsible by the US secret service for the brutal murder of the Saudi government critic and journalist Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate General in Istanbul four years ago. The heir to the throne denies being the mastermind. The murder had led to Mohammed’s international isolation and plunged German-Saudi relations into a crisis that lasted for years.
Before that, after the deep diplomatic crisis, there had been a very friendly welcome: Crown Prince Scholz received a strong handshake in the Royal Palace of Peace (Al-Salam Palace) in Jeddah. The SPD politician smiled friendly at the de facto ruler of the most powerful country on the Arabian Peninsula.
With his visit, the chancellor is setting a sign of normalization. With French President Emmanuel Macron, the official Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has since resigned, and US President Joe Biden, Germany’s most important allies were already in Saudi Arabia. Scholz will follow this up and resume the thread of the conversation, also with a view to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and its consequences. For him, it’s about staying in dialogue with difficult partners so as not to lose them to countries like Russia or China.
Conversation under giant portrait of king
After the welcome by Scholz and Mohammed, under a detailed portrait of King Salman, to a first place for conversation. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit announced before the trip that Scholz wanted to address the Khashoggi murder during his visit. Biden did the same thing in July. After meeting Mohammed at the same place, the President reported at the time that the Crown Prince had denied responsibility for the crime. “He was basically saying that he wasn’t personally responsible for it. I indicated that I think he is,” Biden said.
Scholz travels to the United Arab Emirates and then to Qatar on Saturday evening. Like Saudi Arabia, both countries are important energy exporters. Before the trip, it was still unclear which contracts would be concluded for the supply of gas or – in the medium and long term – hydrogen from the region to Germany. Those close to the Chancellor’s proposals said: “We will bring ambitious ones to a conclusion.” However, the trip should not become a pure “energy shopping tour”. Scholz is accompanied by eleven top managers. Among others, Airbus, Thyssenkrupp and Siemens Energy are represented in the business delegation.
Human rights organizations are demanding clear words from Scholz
Despite some reforms, the strictly conservative Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been criticized for its human rights situation. The human rights organization Amnesty International demanded clear words from the chancellor to the crown prince before the trip: “Even in view of all the geopolitical and energy policy constraints, the chancellor should not remain silent about the human rights violations in the country during his trip to Saudi Arabia.”
Reporters Without Borders (ROG) asked Scholz to address press freedom in the three target countries. “But if he wants to do business with these governments, he should set one condition: that their rulers stop trampling on the media as a legendary pillar of the rule of law,” ROG Germany CEO Christian Mihr told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung ” (NOZ).
Joint press conferences by the Chancellor and his interlocutors are not planned for the entire trip. Despite a great deal of effort, it was not possible to convince the interlocutors of this, according to the German side.
The energy industry is not only hoping for short-term gas exports from the Gulf region from the trip. “Germany and Europe will be dependent on importing hydrogen. It is all the more important to start with international partnerships,” said Kerstin Andreae, General Manager of the Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries, the “Rheinische Post” (Saturday).
Scholz emphasized that the economic issues were primarily about cooperation in the production and transport of hydrogen. Scholz did not answer the question of whether the crown prince was asking him to relax the arms export rules. “Everyone knows that we are pursuing a very strict policy here. And in line with these rules, decisions have been made in recent years that have been well considered. And we will continue to make well-considered decisions,” he said.
No more arms exports to Saudi Arabia since the change of government
According to the peace research institute Sipri, the kingdom is one of the five largest arms importers in the world, and Germany is one of the five largest exporters. Under the traffic light government, however, not a single armaments export to the kingdom was approved. This emerges from a response from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to a request from Left-wing MP Sevim Dagdelen, which is available to the German Press Agency.
The reason is an export ban that has been in effect since November 2018 due to Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the Yemen war and the Khashoggi murder. Chancellor Scholz and his government have so far made no use of an exception rule for European joint projects.
However, it is not known whether there were any corresponding applications from the industry at all. The former federal government issued 81 export licenses worth 33.27 million euros in 2020 and 2021. The Saudi government has repeatedly criticized the export ban. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud described it as a “very wrong signal” in February.
A notice: This report is part of an automated service from the German Press Agency (dpa), which works according to strict journalistic rules. It WILL NOT be edited or checked by the AZ online editors. Please send questions and comments to [email protected]
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