Abdullah Becomes Saudi King On Death of Half Brother Fahd

Neighboring Arab countries declared periods of mourning, and the Arab League postponed a summit scheduled for Wednesday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, site of a series of bombings on July 23.

Many Arab leaders who were due to attend the summit will instead go to Riyadh to pay respects to Fahd, whose country's oil wealth and importance to Islam as the site of its most sacred shrines make it perhaps the region's pivotal state.

On news of his death, crude oil prices soared past $61, the highest level in weeks.

Abdullah is generally well regarded in the kingdom, more popular than his powerful brothers. Many people view him as a principled nationalist who is willing to undertake reform but is constrained by his relatives.

On inheriting the throne, Abdullah continues to face many of the issues that have marked his de facto leadership. Like Fahd, who became king in 1982 during a surge in oil prices, Abdullah has enjoyed growing oil revenue that has helped offset, at least temporarily, longer-term concerns over unemployment and how to rehabilitate the nation's aging infrastructure.

For the past two years, Saudi security forces have battled Islamic radicals within the country -- a sensitive issue for a government that justifies its rule by a centuries-old pact between the royal family and the conservative religious establishment. Attacks began in the mid-1990s, but three suicide bombings of Western residential compounds in Riyadh in May 2003 drove home the potential force of a campaign claimed by al Qaeda with the aim of toppling the royal family and driving foreigners from the kingdom.

The government has reported successes: It says it has killed or captured 23 of the 26 men it included on a most-wanted list published last year. In a gun battle on April 21, three reputed radicals were killed on the outskirts of Mecca.

Conciliation and Repression

Abdullah also faces turmoil in neighboring Iraq and the prospect of a nuclear Iran across the Persian Gulf. At times, he has been buffeted by calls for reform and appeals from deeply traditional religious figures that he go only so far. Like Fahd, he has faced those demands with a mix of conciliation and repression. Partial municipal elections in Saudi areas this year gave new influence to religious conservatives, while three prominent liberal activists were jailed in May.

As in many Arab countries, steps toward reform risk being perceived as American-dictated.

"Those people who expect Abdullah to make a dramatic change, especially on the internal front, they are wrong. Abdullah is also extremely worried about the stability of the country," said Ramzi Khouri, a consultant for the Okaz Media Group. "He and the others will try to keep a balance between what the government believes is right and what the Saudi street believes is right."

Many analysts expect Abdullah to move slowly to consolidate the rest of his power, as well. For decades, consensus has distinguished decision-making within the family, and the new king is not likely to diverge.

Early on, for instance, Abdullah was seen as less enamored of the Saudi alliance with the United States, but has earnestly sought to mend it, in line with Fahd's policy, especially after the reverberations that followed the disclosure that 15 of the 19 men who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were Saudi citizens.