Macron warmly welcomes the Saudi Crown Prince
The French president will “address the question” of human rights with Mohammed ben Salmane during his dinner this Thursday evening at the Elysée Palace.
The fact that French President Emmanuel Macron is meeting Saudi Crown Prince MBS on Thursday is causing controversy. (File photo)
KEYSTONE/EPA/LIONEL BONAVENTURE
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed ben Salmane with a long handshake on Thursday evening, invited for a working dinner at the Elysée Palace, despite protests from human rights defenders.
French President Emmanuel Macron will address the “question of human rights”, the French presidency said. The visit of the Saudi crown prince angers human rights defenders.
“The President of the Republic will address the issue of human rights as he does each time with Mohammed bin Salman. He will address (this question) in a general way but he will take the opportunity to talk regarding individual cases, ”said the Elysée.
Asked regarding the heated controversy aroused by the first visit to France by Mohammed bin Salman (known as “MBS”) since the assassination by Saudi agents of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the French presidency reiterated its request that those “responsible” for this murder “be judged”.
Soaring energy prices
But the Elysée insisted that this dinner was necessary, in view of soaring energy prices due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the food crisis in the Middle East and concerns regarding the Iranian nuclear program.
“If we want to confront each other, tackle the consequences of these crises on the one hand and weigh in the region for the benefit of all, the only way is to speak with all the main players”, estimated the French presidency. Emmanuel Macron receives “MBS” for dinner on Thursday evening, a visit that arouses the ire of human rights defenders.
The meeting between the French head of state and the Saudi crown prince comes following that of Emmanuel Macron in Jeddah in December. She signs a little more the “rehabilitation” of the de facto leader of the kingdom, less than two weeks following the visit of American President Joe Biden to Saudi Arabia, which definitively consecrated the return of the prince on the international scene.
The latter had indeed been banned by Western countries, following the atrocious murder in 2018 of Jamal Khashoggi. Columnist for the Washington Post, critic of Saudi power, the journalist was killed and dismembered on October 2, 2018 in the premises of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul when he came to get the papers necessary for his marriage. His body has never been found.
ATS/AFP
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