AFP — French President Emmanuel Macron late Sunday was to welcome Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman for a two-day visit, criticised as a “provocation” by journalist groups.
The official agenda for the visit ranges from esports to the war in the Middle East, and a French presidential official said several agreements, on health, transport and energy will be signed on Monday.
But three journalists’ unions on Sunday protested against France hosting the Saudi strongman, who is known by his initials MBS.
In a joint statement, the SNJ-CGT, CFDT-Journalistes and SGJ-FO unions noted that there was a live French investigation for torture and forced disappearance against MBS after a complaint lodged in 2021 over the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Khashoggi, a Saudi with US residency who was a critic of the Saudi ruling family, was murdered in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018. His body, cut up, was never recovered.
US intelligence concluded that MBS was directly involved in Khashoggi’s killing, and a UN investigation described the journalist’s death as an “extrajudicial killing for which Saudi Arabia is responsible”.
The unions said the visit by MBS, following a previous one hosted by Macron in July 2022, “looks like a provocation for defenders of media freedom and freedom of expression”.
MBS’s visit will kick off on Sunday evening from 1800 GMT with him being hosted by Macron at the closing ceremony of the Esports World Cup hosted by Paris.
The event, which brings together the leading performers in esports ranging from computer games to chess and has been eagerly backed by MBS, is being held outside Saudi Arabia for the first time.
– Mideast issues –
The French presidential official declined to comment on whether the mooted agreements could touch on a vast theme park known as Dragons Ball, backed by a Saudi fund, which is mooted for the Val-d’Oise region outside Paris.
Saudi Arabia is also set to host a string of key global events, notably the Expo 2030 and above all the football World Cup in 2034.
Saudi Arabia, a close US ally which has a history of tensions with Iran, is also closely watching developments in the Islamic republic in the wake of the US-Israeli war.
On Monday afternoon, MBS and Macron are to chair the first meeting of the Saudi-French strategic partnership council.
Macron and MBS “will discuss key regional issues, in a context calling for close coordination between France and its Gulf partners to foster stability and peace” in the Middle East, according to Macron’s office.
In December 2021, Macron became one of the first Western leaders to meet MBS in Saudi Arabia in the wake of the Khashoggi killing. The Saudi crown prince has made multiple visits to France since then.