The world's longest serving foreign minister, Saudi Arabia's Prince Saud Al Faisal passed away Thursday night while his country confronts fierce regional crises. Al Faisal, who served Arab diplomacy since the Cold War till the formation of an Arab-led coalition to restore legitimacy in the volatile Yemen, was replaced by King Salman bin Abdel Aziz in April 2015 upon his choice, according to a royal decree. Prince Saud, a son of King Faisal, was born in 1940 in the mountain city of Taif near Mecca where, in 1989, he helped Saudi Arabia negotiate the agreement that ended Lebanon's 15-year civil war. Upon graduating in economics from Princeton, New Jersey in 1963, he was in charge of the Petroleum Ministry in the world's top oil exporter. After his father king Faisal had been assassinated, he was nominated by the newly-appointed King Khaled as foreign minister as well as holding additional posts including the membership of the supreme council for Petroleum and the board of trustees of the King Faisal Charity. AL Faisal was in the helm of the Saudi diplomacy during the Iraqi-Iranian war, during which Riyadh provided wary support for the Saddam regime before a severe enmity erupted following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, prompting the kingdom to participate in a U.S.- led coalition war to liberate Kuwait in 1991. Al Faisal, who speaks English and French fluently, fought a fierce diplomatic battle against the West in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to prove that terror could not be attributed to Islam. In 2003, the veteran diplomat rejected the U.S. invasion of Iraq. "The destruction of Iraq cannot be the price for removing the Saddam Hussein regime. It is unreasonable to solve a problem while creating further crises," Al Faisal said. The latest Soviet Union president Michael Gorbatchev highly lauded the late prince saying "if I had had a man like Al Faisal, the Soviet Union would not have fallen". Upon Al Faisal's replacement, the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry said he was the world's wisest diplomat. "Diplomatic circles will miss such a veteran man. I hope to always get his advice," Kerry said. Al Faisal was such a strong supporter of the Arab issues that the Palestinian chief negotiator considered him a source of reassurance for all Palestinian politicians as his vote was permanently guaranteed for the interest of Palestine. The man also formed an Arab initiative for peace with Israel in return for a withdrawal from all occupied land and a resolution of the refugee problem, with similar gusto. The Arab League former Secretary General, Amr Mussa said the Arab nation needed diplomats like Al Faisal who "enjoyed a combination of distinguished diplomatic qualities".
