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After visiting the UAE and Qatar, Macron from France met with Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia to discuss regional “stability”.
French President Emmanuel Macron ended his visit to the Gulf after meeting with Saudi Arabia’s prime minister in Jeddah.
The meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday, after Macron’s meeting with the Qatari emir, was discussing regional peace, especially in the troubled Lebanon, after he insisted he had not ignored Riyadh’s independence history.
Macron arrived in Jeddah after visiting the United Arab Emirates and Qatar as part of a short tour of the Gulf.
Macron is one of the first Western leaders to meet Prince Mohammed in the empire since the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed and it broke down inside the Riyadh embassy in Istanbul in 2018.
The assassination by Saudi allies tarnished Prince Mohammed’s reputation around the world and sparked widespread criticism.
But Macron said talks with Saudi Arabia were necessary to “work for stability in the region”. However, he added, in reference to Khashoggi’s assassination, that “it does not mean that I agree with everything”.
“I see that Saudi Arabia has organized a G20 summit … not many governments have boycotted the G20” even Khashoggi, Macron said.
“We have always been very clear about human rights or the case.”
Riyadh has described the killings as “brutal”, but the US Central Intelligence Agency and a United Nations special reporter have been in direct contact with Prince Mohammed and assassinated, a charge the government strongly denies.
Fighting Lebanon
In talks with Prince Mohammed, Macron is expected to challenge the Lebanese case, as the economic crisis is exacerbated by a diplomatic dispute that erupted in October between Beirut and other Gulf states – particularly Saudi Arabia, which banned imports.
His efforts should be backed up by the resignation of Lebanese Information Minister Georges Kordahi, whose comments about Saudi intervention in the Yemen war have sparked controversy.
In October, video footage of the talks Kordahi gave a month before he was selected to make an appearance on the internet, in which he said that Houthi-affiliated Houthi “was defending …
He also said that the long-running dispute was “baseless” and called for an end to it.
Lebanon’s fragile government has struggled to secure foreign aid, especially from rich Arab countries.
‘Human rights violations’
On Friday, the UAE signed an agreement worth 14 billion euros ($ 15.8bn) for 80 French Rafale fighter jets and billions of euros in other activities while Macron stopped.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized the sale, saying the UAE “played a key role in the Saudi-UAE-led war-torn war in Yemen”.
Last year, Riyadh was the largest buyer of French weapons, HRW added.
“He [Macron] should speak out against human rights abuses, “HRW he said in his own words Thursday ahead of the Gulf tour.
“The sale of French weapons and the protection of suspicious alliance in the name of terrorists and the violation of human rights will remain a stain on Macron’s history,” the group said.
Iranian-backed Houthi militants with Iranian backing and allied groups are accused of failing to protect civilians during this time. Yemen’s seven-year war.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to support the internationally recognized Yemeni government. The UAE is still part of the alliance but began deploying troops in 2019.
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