Saudi's Crown Prince Nayef in good health

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Nayef is in good health and is expected to return "soon" after having medical tests abroad, Prince Ahmad bin Abdulaziz, deputy interior minister, was quoted as saying in a local newspaper on Sunday.

"Prince Nayef is in good health and I spoke to him yesterday. He ... will return soon," Prince Ahmad, a brother of Nayef, was quoted as saying in al-Watan daily newspaper.

The nature of the medical tests has not been revealed but the health of senior royals in the world's top oil exporter and U.S. ally, where political power is held almost exclusively by top-ranking al-Sauds, is keenly watched.

Nayef, who is 77 or 78, left the kingdom for a holiday and medical tests late last month, just a month after he spent a month abroad following medical tests in the United States.

After the death of the kingdom's founder, Abdulaziz ibn Saud, power has been passed down between some of his nearly 40 sons who lived to adulthood. King Abdullah, who is near 90, had a back operation last year.

Although Nayef has a reputation as a conservative who is averse to the cautious social changes being pushed by his elder brother, analysts have speculated he might prove less resistant to reform as king.

The presumed next in line after King Abdullah and Crown Prince Nayef is Prince Salman, another brother who was promoted to the role of defence minister in November after spending five decades as Riyadh governor.

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