Saudi Arabia 'not in crisis' over Khashoggi affair, new FM says

"The issue of Jamal Khashoggi... really saddened us, all of us," Ibrahim al-Assaf told AFP, a day after he was appointed foreign minister in a government shake-up.

"But all in all, we are not going through a crisis, we are going through a transformation," he said, referring to social and economic reforms spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The prince, heir to the Saudi throne, has faced intense international scrutiny over the murder of journalist Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate - which critics say has left the oil-rich Gulf nation diplomatically weakened.

Soft-spoken Adel al-Jubeir was demoted from his role as top diplomat, which he had held since April 2015, to the post of minister of state for foreign affairs.

In the reshuffle, King Salman also named new ministers for the information, education and national guard portfolios.
Assaf had been serving as minister of state, and has held a seat on the boards of oil-giant Saudi Aramco and the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund.

Assaf was detained in the notorious shake-down of high-ranking Saudi officials and royals in Riyadh's Ritz Carlton Hotel in 2016, but was released without charge. He previously served as finance minister from 1996 to 2016.

According to Saudi pro-regime news outlet Al Arabiya, al-Assaf has been charged with restructuring the various departments within the foreign ministry, while al-Jubeir will still handle diplomatic affairs.

Furthermore, Saudi football kingpin Turki al-Sheikh was pardoned from his role as head of the kingdom's sports authority and appointed the head of the entertainment authority.

The Saudi ambassador to London, Mohammed bin Nawwaf bin Abdulaziz, was also relieved of his post.

Plans for an official Saudi space agency were also announced, signalling the kingdom's willingness to put on a show of modernisation and commitment to the Vision 2030 programme.

In the latest turn of the Khashoggi saga, Turkey is persuading the UN to undertake an official investigation of the murder, known to have been carried out by a team of Saudi agents at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on 2 October. 

Speaking to reporters in Tunisia on Monday, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey is "actively" continuing its investigation and "collaborating" with other UN members.

Outrage over the Khashoggi affair has sparked an array of diplomatic consequences for Saudi Arabia, most recently including the Senate voting to block cooperation over nuclear power with the US.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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