Saudi capital goes quiet for day of mourning

RIYADH: The normally gridlocked streets of the Saudi capital were quiet on Sunday after King Salman declared a day of mourning for his predecessor Abdullah, and more foreign leaders made their way to the kingdom.
Singapore’s Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean arrived, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was on his way to offer condolences to Salman, who acceded to the throne on Friday after Abdullah’s death at the age of about 90. US President Barack Obama announced he would cut short a visit to India to travel to the kingdom on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia has long been a key United States ally and last year joined the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State Jihadist group.
Obama “called King Salman bin Abdulaziz from Air Force One today to personally express his sympathies”, the White House said on Saturday.
From across the Arab and Muslim worlds, from Europe, Asia, and America, presidents, prime ministers and sheikhs have flown in to pay their respects.
It is a recognition of the Islamic kingdom’s power as the world’s leading oil exporter, a political heavyweight in a region threatened by extremist violence, and as home to Islam’s holiest sites.
Salman, a half-brother of Abdullah who reigned for almost a decade, declared Sunday a nationwide holiday “to provide comfort and facilitation to all citizens in offering condolences” and allegiance to the new monarch, the official Saudi Press Agency said.
Allegiance ceremonies began on Friday night at a palace in a historic quarter of Riyadh. Guests rubbed cheeks and kissed the hands of the goateed Salman, 79, and his heir Crown Prince Moqren, 69.