Health scare for Saudi crown prince as he skips summit on ‘doctors’ orders’

Mohammed bin Salman has ‘expressed his regret for not attending the Arab summit’, says host Algeria

Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is driven to a meeting with the Algerian prime minister on a previous visit to Algiers in 2018 (AFP/Getty)

Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman will be skipping the Arab League summit on the advice of doctors who have asked the royal to avoid travelling, a statement from the Algerian presidency said on Saturday.

The crown prince had “expressed his regret for not attending the Arab summit” in a telephone conversation with Algerian president Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the statement said.

The 2022 Arab League summit – an important meeting of representatives from Arab countries in the Middle East and north Africa – will see around 17 leaders gather in Algeria for a two-day conference starting on 1 November.

Another statement issued by the Saudi foreign ministry said that the two leaders had held a phone call, but did not state that the crown prince was going to miss the summit.

“During the telephone conversation, the aspects of bilateral relations between the two fraternal countries were reviewed. Also, they discussed opportunities for joint cooperation between the Kingdom and Algeria in various fields and ways to develop them,” said the statement, which was issued on Sunday.

Saudi officials made no reference to the reported health scare of the country’s de facto ruler.

The crown prince, 37, has for several years been seen as effectively the ruler of Saudi Arabia, with his 86-year-old father King Salman suffering from his own health problems. The arrangement was formalised late last month when the crown prince was named prime minister.

The Arab summit comes at a time when Algeria is witnessing heightened diplomatic tensions with neighbour Morocco over terrorism accusations. The two nations severed ties after Algeria accused Morocco of backing two organisations it called “terrorist” and charged them with “hostile acts”.

Officials in Algiers are amping up promotion of the meeting, using the slogan “Uniting the Arab League”.

Last month, Mr Tebboune told a local newspaper that Algeria’s “keenness to organise the Arab summit in our country stems from our determination to make it a unifying event ... It will be, God willing, a new start for the Arab world that is suffering from rupture”, reported pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat.

The Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani are also among the leaders expected to attend the summit, according to an Algerian newspaper.