King Abdullah, Brown hold crucial parleys on ME
Foreign Desk Report

LONDON—King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia met British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday to discuss Middle East issues and counter-terrorism, amid a swirl of protests.
On the second official day of his state visit to London, Brown shook hands with the king on the steps of his Downing Street office before inviting him inside for talks.
Britain sees Saudi Arabia as a key partner for economic ties, Middle East regional stability and combating Islamist extremism, but critics of the country’s human rights record were unhappy at the welcome afforded to the octogenarian Saudi monarch.
King Abdullah was later to hold talks with Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, and David Cameron, the main opposition Conservative Party’s leader. His discussions with Brown were to focus on counter-terrorism, Iran, the Middle East peace process, Iraq and Lebanon, according to officials.
A Downing Street spokeswoman has said Brown would “raise issues he believes to be appropriate” with the king, who is the first Saudi monarch to make a state visit to Britain since king Fahd in 1987.
“We have a new king in Saudi Arabia and a new prime minister here, so this is an auspicious moment to mark the strength of the relationship between our two kingdoms,” a senior Foreign Office official said Monday. “The relationship we have with Saudi Arabia is in many ways one of the most important we have with any state. Certainly in the Middle East it is central to us.”
Following a formal lunch given by the government, the king was to visit Prince Charles’s official residence Clarence House for private talks. “The Prince of Wales has known King Abdullah over a number of years and has got to know him quite well, both being heirs to the throne,” a spokesman for Charles’s office said.
“Given the significance of the UK’s relationship with Saudi Arabia in terms of things like terrorism and trade, it’s an important connection.”
King Abdullah was then to hold talks with Cameron, with “counter-terrorism” high on the agenda, the Conservative party leader’s spokesman told reporters.
The king was to attend an evening banquet given by the Lord Mayor and Corporation of London, which governs the city’s financial district. Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth II’s second son, was to represent her at the event.
Britain’s bilateral counter-terrorism relationship with Saudi Arabia has been a hot-button subject during the state visit. King Abdullah said before arriving that Britain had failed to act on intelligence from his country that could have stopped the deadly 2005 London suicide bombings — a claim talked down by British officials.
At a state banquet hosted Tuesday by the queen at Buckingham Palace, where the king is staying, he warned of “ominous signs of war and conflict” in the world, which must be faced with “wisdom and courage so that we may not slip into the abyss.”
In her speech at the banquet, which was attended by more than 170 dignitaries including Brown, the queen spoke of the “shared values” of the two kingdoms. “We also continue to work together against the terrorists who threaten the way of life of our citizens in both countries, and in the search for a more peaceful and stable Middle East, to the benefit of all its peoples,” she said.
Despite the pomp and pleasantry, the welcome extended to King Abdullah has infuriated some politicians, commentators and human rights groups. Protestors were set to stage a mass human rights demonstration outside the plush Saudi embassy in central London.
London-based human rights group Amnesty International published a dossier to coincide with the visit highlighting the “bleak” situation in Saudi Arabia over public beheadings, torture, court-ordered floggings and violence and discrimination against women.