June 27, 2003	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 26,1424

RIYADH: Jolted by bombings in its capital and a shootout with militants in Makkah, Saudi Arabia is trying to heal internal rifts and tackle the threat of Al Qaeda by talking to religious minorities and former dissidents.

Alongside a sustained security clampdown after the suicide bombings in Riyadh, blamed on Osama bin Laden’s group, de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah launched a “national dialogue” to address political and religious differences.

A four-day meeting last week brought together Sunnis and minority Shias — who have long complained of second class treatment in the kingdom — as well as government figures and a former dissident who was once jailed.

“It was the first meeting of its kind and we consider it a good, and belated, initiative,” the country’s most prominent Shia leader Hassan al-Saffar, a former exile, said. “This should have happened a long time ago.”

Shias, who live mainly in the oil-rich eastern province, make up nearly 10 per cent of the population in Saudi Arabia, which enforces an austere version of Sunni Islam.

They have complained for decades of inequality at the hands of a powerful religious establishment, saying it refused to acknowledge Shias as true Muslims.

Saudi Arabia’s Ismaili Muslims, from the southwestern border region near Yemen, were also represented at the talks.

“The most important result of the meeting was breaking the barriers between the different (religious) trends,” Saffar said, adding that differences would not be resolved overnight.

Diplomats say a possible rise of Shia power in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein has alarmed Riyadh, although there has been little sign its Shia population wants to break away.

“It’s much less of an issue for the government right now than extremism,” said one Western diplomat, referring to the May 12 suicide bombings in Riyadh that killed 35 people.

COMBATING MILITANCY: Saudi Arabia says Al Qaeda was behind that attack and a gunfight in the holy city of Makkah in which seven people died.

Security have arrested dozens of suspects. And, in a tacit admission that militancy is partly a home-grown problem, religious leaders were told to preach moderation and parents to monitor young men.

Saudi Arabia has come under US pressure to curb religious radicals since the September 11, 2001, attacks on US cities by hijacked planes. Fifteen of the 19 hijack suspects were Saudis.

Saffar said Riyadh faced danger from both Western demands and militant violence. “These outside circumstances and internal dangers...pushed Prince Abdullah in this direction (dialogue).”

The meeting ended with a declaration acknowledging diversity of Muslim thought in Saudi Arabia. It also sought more political participation in an absolute monarchy and fair distribution of resources in the world’s largest oil exporter.

Saudi Arabia faces growing economic challenges such as a rapidly rising population and significant unemployment that have not been addressed by the slow pace of reform.

Without mentioning Al Qaeda, the declaration called for restrictions on the right to declare Jehad and for ways to protect religion in the face of modern communication.

Al Qaeda and its supporters have made wide use of the Internet to spread their message in Saudi Arabia.

Sheikh Salman al Audah, a preacher who spent five years in jail accused of sowing dissent and chaos after he called for even stricter interpretation of Islamic law in Saudi Arabia, said the meeting was a “successful beginning”.

“But we don’t expect very much from it,” he added.

Another prominent preacher imprisoned with Audah in the 1990s, Safar al-Hawali, stayed away from the meeting.

Diplomats say despite an agreement to continue the dialogue, the attempt to bridge internal differences could be a one-off.

A junior minister who was at the talks said that simply by taking place, the meeting broke new ground. “It is enough just that these people came together. Some said they thought it would last just 15 minutes. But they were surprised by the openness.”—Reuters