"Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world bids Prince Nayef farewell," trumpeted the headline of the London-based pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat. The death in Geneva, Switzerland, of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Nayef dominated the headlines of Saudi Arabian and Gulf Arab newspapers. Veteran Saudi Interior Minister Nayef ibn Abdel-Aziz Al-Saud was named crown prince only last October when the then heir to the Saudi throne Sultan ibn Abdel-Aziz Al-Saud died in Switzerland where he was receiving treatment. Asharq Al-Awsat reserved two pages on Monday to cover Prince Nayef's funeral. The paper reported that a special plane was dispatched to Switzerland to retrieve his mortal remains. The paper listed in detail all the Arab and world leaders, mostly from Muslim nations, who paid their last respects in person by attending Crown Prince Nayef's funeral in the Saudi capital Riyadh. Among the Arab and world leaders mentioned in Asharq Al-Awsat who attended the funeral were Jordanian King Abdullah II, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Chadian President Idriss Debbe, President of Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh, Somali President Sherif Sheikh Ahmed, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of Kuwait Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel-Aziz and the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. Tantawi was given pride of place among foreign dignitaries photographed seated next to Saudi King Abdullah during the funeral ceremonies. The preeminence of Tantawi during the funeral rituals was interpreted by observers as meaning to convey the close and special relationship between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and a leading investor in the ailing Egyptian economy. The stakes are above all political, and a signal of the approval of the Saudi Arabian political establishment for the Egyptian democratic process. Even though non-Muslim leaders were not present at Crown Prince Nayef's funeral rites in Riyadh, messages of condolences from world leaders were conveyed. "Under [Crown Prince Nayef's] leadership the United States and Saudi Arabia developed a strong and effective partnership in the fight against terrorism, one that has saved countless American and Saudi lives," the paper quoted an official statement by US President Barack Obama in which he hailed the prince as a stalwart friend of the US and a valiant fighter against terrorism. Nayef led a crackdown against militant Islamists who overran Mecca in 1979 and were defeated with the assistance of American troops. The Saudi press praised Nayef as being instrumental in crushing the Saudi-based Al-Qaeda cells in the aftermath of 9/11. Nayef was known to be rather lukewarm concerning the political and social reforms initiated by his brother, the more moderate Saudi monarch. Saudi King Abdullah named his brother Prince Salman ibn Abdel-Aziz Al-Saud as the new crown prince, a choice widely regarded as buttressing the political stability of the wealthy kingdom. And, also strengthening Riyadh's role as a bastion against what is seen as the encroachment of Iranian meddling in the internal affairs of the region. Prince Ahmed ibn Abdel-Aziz was named as the new Saudi interior minister. Asharq Al-Awsat featured a prominent photograph of Abdullah holding the hand of his brother, the new crown prince Salman. The photograph seemed to suggest the solidarity among the ruling Saudi family and their loyalty to the venerable traditions of the kingdom. Asharq Al-Awsat also displayed a photograph of Spain's King Phillip paying his condolences in person to Abdullah. It also pictured the salat al-ghaib, ritual prayer in honour of the departed soul, in Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo where worshippers paid their last respects to Nayef. The London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat also focussed on the passing away of Nayef, but it also featured opinion pieces that were more aware of events in the rest of the Arab world. "How many victims now hang upon our necks -- yours and mine," lamented Syrian writer Manhal Al-Sarrag. "The very word, and notion of 'nation' among Syrians at home and abroad has taken on a very negative connotation," the Syrian pundit extrapolates. Al-Sarrag berated the state of Syria and the nationalist pretensions that she claimed had led her people astray. "I remember the words of a friend of mine, who years ago told me that he broke his foot deliberately with a hatchet so that he can be excused from serving in the Syrian army," she bemoaned in an op-ed in Al-Hayat. "There must be a way out of this hell," she concluded. Another Syrian commentator Yassin Al-Haj Saleh, also writing in Al-Hayat, wrote an op-ed entitled "The three Syrian wars�ê� two states, two nationalities and a tyrant" in which he reminds his readers that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has not fulfilled its obligations as far as the peace plan of former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan is concerned. Annan, the special envoy of the UN and the Arab League to Syria had stressed that the Syrian government troops withdraw heavy weaponry and halt the systematic bombardment of civilian districts of cities and urban centres in Syria. "The ongoing war in the country has rendered it desolate in such an unprecedented manner not witnessed even in the days of French colonialism," Saleh complained. "True, Syria was divided up more than once during colonial days, but then Syria was a newly formed and weak political entity�ê� division was acceptable in those days and the French did not use excessive force to enforce their will on the people." Saudi writer Abdel-Nasser Al-Oteibi writing in Al-Hayat noted that the Syrian crisis has reached a decisive point. "Surely, there must be an end to the Syrian crisis. But, when will the end come? This is the paramount question at the moment." "The Afghanistan of the Levant, including Syria, has become a sad reality. In the next few weeks it will become all too apparent. The scenario necessitates a more prominent role for the Gulf Arab states in Syrian affairs. The pivotal importance of the Gulf Arab states will be of vital necessity in the weeks to come, especially if the Syrian regime falls. And, the hegemony of the Gulf Arab states in Syria will continue for at least the next five years until the situation stabilises," Al-Oteibi reckons. Last, but not least, is the deplorable security situation in Libya. The announcement that Libya's first national general elections since the assassination of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been postponed to 7 July received scant attention in both the Libyan and the pan-Arab press. However, there was news that a Libyan Salafist group Ansar Al-Sharia (Conscripts of the Sharia) stormed the Tunisian consulate in Benghazi, protesting what they allege to be the denigrating depictions of Islam by secularist Tunisian artists.
