Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has ordered a sweeping government reshuffle Thursday, replacing key security and political figures including the foreign minister, as the kingdom grapples with the international fallout over critic Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
The surprise shake-up saw the appointment of new ministers of the powerful National Guard, information and education, as well as the head of a new space agency, but the energy and finance ministries were unaffected despite an economic downturn.
The revamp left untouched the authority of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler facing intense international scrutiny over the October 2 murder of journalist Khashoggi, which tipped the kingdom into one of its worst crises.
Ibrahim al-Assaf, a former finance minister who was detained last year in an anti-corruption sweep, will replace Adel al-Jubeir as foreign minister, a royal decree said.
Jubeir, who sought to defend the tainted government internationally after Khashoggi’s murder, was effectively demoted to minister of state for foreign affairs, the decree added without explaining the change.
In other significant appointments, Prince Abdullah bin Bandar was named chief of the powerful National Guard, and Musaed al-Aiban, a Harvard graduate, was appointed the new national security adviser.
The reshuffle would help the crown prince further “consolidate power” as many of those promoted were his “key allies”, tweeted Ali Shihabi, head of the pro-Saudi think tank The Arabia Foundation.
The reshuffle comes as Saudi Arabia seeks to repair its tarnished image after Khashoggi’s murder, widely seen as its worst diplomatic crisis since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, in which most of the hijackers were identified as Saudi nationals.
Saudi Arabia last week said it was creating government bodies to boost oversight of its intelligence operations, in the wake of the murder.
The kingdom has said Khashoggi was killed inside its Istanbul consulate in a “rogue operation” led by Saudi agents, but the CIA reportedly concluded that Prince Mohammed ordered his assassination.
The murder has battered the reputation of the 33-year-old crown prince, who controls all major levers of power. He is set to maintain his political and security posts after Thursday’s reshuffle, including that of defence minister.