Saudi Arabia was the only Gulf nation not to congratulate Joe Biden on his victory over Donald Trump in the US presidential elections, choosing instead to offer congratulations to the king of Cambodia and the Tanzanian president, according to CNN.
In the hours after the announcement from the US that Biden was to become the country’s 46th president, the official Saudi Press Agency published two tweets on its official account, congratulating the president of Tanzania on his re-election and the king of Cambodia on the anniversary of his country’s independence.
#خادم_الحرمين_الشريفين وسمو #ولي_العهد يهنئان رئيس تنزانيا المتحدة بمناسبة إعادة انتخابه.#واس pic.twitter.com/acEZpC1e6g
— واس الأخبار الملكية (@spagov) November 7, 2020
Translation: The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and His Highness the Crown Prince congratulate the President of United Tanzania on his re-election
#خادم_الحرمين_الشريفين وسمو #ولي_العهد يهنئان ملك مملكة كمبوديا بذكرى استقلال بلاده.#واس pic.twitter.com/DJk8CxUjjY
— واس الأخبار الملكية (@spagov) November 8, 2020
Translation: The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and His Highness the Crown Prince congratulate the King of Cambodia on the anniversary of his country’s independence
On Twitter, people noted that a number of Arab countries, including the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait, in addition to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and others, had already offered their congratulations to Biden.
CNN contacted the Saudi government for comment, but had received no reply at the time of writing on Sunday morning.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s close personal ties with Trump had provided a vital buffer against a tide of international criticism over Riyadh’s rights record, sparked by the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the kingdom’s role in Yemen’s war and the detention of women activists.
‘The only thing worse than Covid-19 would be Biden-20′ – Saudi Twitter user Dr Muna
Those areas may now become points of friction between Biden and Saudi Arabia, a major oil exporter and buyer of US arms.
Biden had pledged in his campaign to reassess ties with the kingdom, demanding more accountability over Khashoggi’s killing in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate and calling for an end to US support for the Yemen war.
“The only thing worse than Covid-19 would be Biden-20,” wrote Saudi Twitter user Dr Muna, while many other Saudi Twitter users simply ignored the result in the initial hours after US networks had called the election for Biden.
A Saudi political source played down the risk of a falling out between the kingdom and the US, pointing to Riyadh’s historic ties with Washington.
But Saudi Arabia’s Okaz newspaper offered a sense of the uncertainty about how the future may play out for the kingdom. “The region is waiting… and preparing… for what happens after Biden’s victory,” it wrote in a front page article.
Source: Middle East Eye
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