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28 March 2024

Saudi King to go to US for back treatment

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (C) arrives at a hospital in Riyadh November 19, 2010. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah was admitted to hospital on Friday after a blood clot complicated a back condition he is suffering from and doctors have recommended more rest, the state news agency said. (REUTERS)

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By Staff

Saudi King Abdullah is to travel to the United States for treatment of a painful herniated disc and "blood accumulation" around the spine, a Saudi official told AFP on Sunday.

The King, 86, will depart on Monday following the return of Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz to the capital from Morocco, expected Sunday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

On November 12 the royal court said the King was suffering from a herniated disc, a painful but treatable spinal ailment.

On Friday the King underwent tests at King Faisal Hospital in Riyadh after he suffered a new flare-up of pain, and the official report said it involved an "accumulation of blood" around the spinal cord.

Sultan's return comes after he spent nearly 12 weeks at his palace in Agadir, Morocco. The crown prince, around 85 years old, has not been very active since taking treatment and a lengthy convalescence abroad in 2008-2009 for what is believed by analysts and diplomats to be cancer.

Abdullah, Saudi King since 2005, had slowed his activities since May-June of this year due to his previously unnamed problems.

On Saturday an expected - but never officially announced - visit by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak became a phone call between the two leaders instead. A planned meeting between Abdullah and French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been put off twice this year.
 

Meanwhile, with both the King and crown prince indisposed, the Interior Minister Prince Nayef has featured heavily in state media over the past week.

Prince Nayef was appointed second deputy prime minister in 2009 in a move which analysts say will avert a power vacuum in the event of serious health problems afflicting the King and crown prince.

The veteran security chief, thought to be around 76, was in an ebullient mood when he met reporters in Makkah before the Haj pilgrimage last week and state media made a formal announcement that he would oversee the Haj in the King's place, receiving guests there in recent days.

On Wednesday, the king transferred control of the National Guard, an elite Bedouin corps that handles domestic security, to his son Mitab.

Mitab was also named by the king as a minister of state and a member of the Council of Ministers.