He was to be the hero of the day, the master of a ceremony he imagined grandiose, the center of all attention. But at the summit of G20 heads of state, which opens Saturday, November 21 in Riyadh, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman, the iron-fisted reformer nicknamed “MBS”, will only be a face on a screen . Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this multilateral high mass, of which Saudi Arabia holds the rotating presidency, is taking place by video conference, each in their capital.
Instead of consecrating the return to favor of the Saudi dolphin, ostracized by the Khashoggi scandal, and serving as a springboard for the new Arabia he has set out to build, the first G20 in the Arab world will go down in history as a virtual G20 , emblematic of a world padlocked by the fear of Covid-19.
On the traditional summit family photo, composed by computer, the son of King Salman is also absent. It is his father, the head of state in title, who stands in the center, surrounded by the great of this world. “For MBS, who hoped to improve his status on the international scene, this is a missed opportunity”, agrees Ayham Kamel, in charge of the Middle East at the consultancy firm Eurasia.
The initial program planned to transport officials and journalists to some of the emblematic places of Vision 2030, the modernization program initiated by Mohammed Ben Salman, son of King Salman: the village of Diriyah, cradle of the House of Saud, transformed into a maze of restaurants, shaded walks and art galleries; the Qiddiya site, an amusement park as big on paper as three times Paris; or the domain of Al-Ula, a Nabataean necropolis, springing from the sands of the desert. Sites at odds with the reputation of archaism still attached to the kingdom.
“Image work is at the heart of the Saudi authorities’ strategy, points out Eman Alhussein, analyst at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. This is how they hope to attract investment and finance their economic diversification strategy. ”
Establishment of a counter-G20
Opposite, a sort of counter-G20 has been set up. Human rights organizations and Saudi dissidents in exile are taking advantage of the event to raise their concerns as much as possible.
For several weeks, social networks have been inundated with calls for the release of the five feminist activists imprisoned in Arabia for more than two years, like Loujain Al-Hathloul, on hunger strike for almost a month. These strong heads had the nerve to loudly demand the right to drive for the Saudis, before MBS decides to grant it to them. An intolerable way of doing things for the thirty-something, who wants to transform Arabia from above, at his own pace, without interference from his subjects.
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