Special to WorldTribune.com
ABU DHABI — Interior Minister Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz took a major step
toward the throne when he was named crown prince of Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi royal court said King Abdullah appointed the 78-year-old Nayef
crown prince on Oct. 28. The statement said the appointment was approved by
the so-called Allegiance Council, a panel established in 2006 to help
succession for the aging Saudi royal family.

“We chose His Royal Highness Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz as crown
prince,” the royal court said.

The appointment was announced a week after the death of Crown Prince
Sultan in a New York hospital on Oct. 21. Sultan also served as defense
minister since 1962, a position his son, Khaled, was expected to fulfill.

Nayef was said to have been the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia since he
was appointed deputy prime minister in 2009. He is the youngest of the
senior members of the royal family and responsible for domestic security,
particularly counter-insurgency.

“Let’s understand the reality,” Nayef told Saudi state television on
Oct. 29. “We are living in such conditions in the region where there is
turbulence from all sides.”

Western diplomats said they expected Nayef to replace the king within a
year. They said Abdullah, said to be 95, was suffering from a range of
ailments and no longer carrying out his official duties. The official Saudi
Press Agency said Abdullah dismissed a request by Nayef not to attend
Sultan’s funeral on Oct. 25.

“Nayef is widely seen as a hardline conservative who at best is lukewarm
to King Abdullah’s reform initiatives,” a State Department assessment in
2009 said.

  Crown Prince Sultan, King Abdullah, King Abdullah appoints interior minister as Saudi crown prince, Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz