MAKKAH, Saudi Arabia, June 17, (Agencies): Saudi Arabia on Sunday buried Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz during a sombre ceremony in Islam’s holiest city, as defence minister Prince Salman appeared poised to become the new heir apparent.
The 79-year-old Nayef died on Saturday of “cardiac problems” at his brother’s residence in Geneva, a medical source in the Swiss city said.
The ceremony was held late afternoon at the Grand Mosque in Makkah, in western Saudi Arabia, and led by a grieving King Abdullah, members of the royal family and a number of heads of states from Islamic countries.

Prince Nayef’s body, which arrived earlier in the day in the city of Jeddah on board a Saudi aircraft from Geneva before being driven to Makkah, was wrapped in an ochre-coloured shroud during the ceremony and later buried in a cemetery next to the Grand Mosque.
Tributes for Nayef, Saudi’s long-serving interior minister, poured in from around the world.
“Crown Prince Nayef devoted his life to promoting the security of Saudi Arabia,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, while US President Barack Obama praised his cooperation in the fight against terror that “saved countless American and Saudi lives.”
French President Francois Hollande said his country had lost a “friend” and the president of the Swiss Confederation, where Nayef died, offered Bern’s “deepest condolences.”
Nayef’s death, just eight months after he replaced his late brother Sultan as crown prince, raises the issue of succession because of the advanced age of the first line of apparent heirs, in a time of turmoil rocking the Arab world.

King Abdullah himself is 88 and ailing, and nobody is officially in line to replace Nayef.
His brother Prince Salman, 76, who took the defence portfolio after Sultan’s death, appears to be a strong candidate.
“Prince Salman is the most likely successor,” Saudi political scientist Khaled al-Dakheel said.
“All expectations point to Prince Salman to succeed Prince Nayef for his experience in administration, security and politics,” agreed Anwar Eshqi, head of the Jeddah-based Middle East Centre for Strategic Studies.

And Jane Kinninmont, a senior research fellow for the Middle East and North Africa at London’s Chatham House, said Salman is “generally assumed to be the next in line.”
In 2006 the Saudi monarch established the allegiance council, a body of around 35 senior princes, as a new succession mechanism whose long-term aim was to choose the crown prince.
But the new commission had not been activated when Nayef was chosen as crown prince, according to Dakheel, who argued that naming his successor is a chance to bring the new body into play.
The royal decree that established the council postponed its use until after Abdullah’s death.
“This is a chance to activate the allegiance council system... which provides a legal foundation for a peaceful power transfer within the family and leaves no room for surprises. This is important for state stability,” Dakheel said.

Kinninmont argued that choosing the second in line to the throne, which is “likely to be signified informally by the title of second deputy prime minister, is more challenging.”
King Abdullah did not name a second deputy after Nayef was promoted to first deputy after Sultan’s death.

Nayef was the middle prince of the Sudairi Seven, the formidable bloc of sons of King Abdul Aziz by a favourite wife, Princess Hassa al-Sudairi.
In addition to Salman, remaining Sudairis include Prince Abdul Rahman, Prince Turki and Prince Ahmed, deputy interior minister and likely to succeed Nayef as the oil powerhouse’s security chief.
Nayef, who spearheaded Saudi Arabia’s clampdown on Al-Qaeda following a wave of attacks in the conservative kingdom between 2003 and 2006, became heir last October.
He forced the jihadist group’s leaders and militants to flee to Yemen, from where they continue to be a thorn in the side of Saudi interests.

“He was one of the pillars of stability in the kingdom,” wrote Al-Jazirah daily. “He managed to overcome crises and navigate this country to the shores of safety.”

Prince Nayef travelled abroad several times this year for medical reasons, and was shown on television in Geneva three days ago greeting supporters.

The nature of his illness was not made public.

Seen as more conservative than King Abdullah, Prince Nayef was a staunch defender of the Saudi dynasty and resisted any opposition, especially from the Shiite minority in the eastern province.
He also strongly opposed allowing women to drive. A planned protest on Sunday by the Women2Drive group was postponed until Friday following Nayef’s death.

His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Sunday evening offered condolences to Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and the royal family over the passing away of Prince Nayef.

Meanwhile, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Kuwait will be open to those who wish to express their condolences on the death of Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz from Monday to Wednesday at 9:00 am to 12:00 noon, reports Al-Seyassah daily quoting Saudi Ambassador to Kuwait Dr Abdulaziz Al-Fayez.

Here are some of the main players in Saudi Arabia:

•  King Abdullah: Thought to have been born in 1923, Abdullah is a grandfatherly figure in the eyes of many Saudis. When he became de facto regent after King Fahd’s stroke in 1995, and as king from 2005 onwards, Abdullah demonstrated a zeal for economic reform and pushed for some social change. While some liberals have been disappointed with the modest results, conservatives have chafed at moves to make it easier for women to be educated and work.
•  Prince Salman: The governor of Riyadh since 1962 and Defence Minister since November, Salman and his family own a newspaper group including pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat and al-Eqtisadiah. Born in 1936, he underwent spine surgery in the United States in 2010 and spent months outside the kingdom for recuperation. A full brother of the late Nayef, the late King Fahd and the late crown prince Sultan, he is said to physically resemble his father King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, who founded the kingdom, more than any of his brothers.
• Salman is seen as the most likely successor as heir to the throne. He is a brother of King Abdullah and was made defence minister in November after more than five decades as Riyadh governor.
•  Prince Ahmed: The youngest full brother of Nayef and Salman, he has been a deputy interior minister since 1975. Educated at university in California, he was tasked with introducing reforms in the Eastern Province in the early 1980s to improve the lot of the kingdom’s Shi’ite minority who had revolted over discrimination.
• Ahmed is seen as a likely candidate to take over the Interior Ministry portfolio following Nayef’s death on Saturday.
•  Prince Mugrin: The head of Saudi intelligence, his public profile has risen in recent years. The youngest son of Ibn Saud, he organised a conference on combating Internet militancy in 2007. Diplomats say he is close to King Abdullah. Born in 1945, he is relatively young but is hindered in succession by his non-royal mother.
•  Prince Mishaal: Born in 1926, he was appointed by King Abdullah as chairman of the allegiance council which rules on matters of succession but his public profile is low.

So far no grandsons of Saudi founder Abdulaziz Ibn Saud have held power. Here are some of the most prominent:

•  Prince Khaled Al-Faisal: Governor of Makkah province, he is seen as one of the most liberal princes who has eased the religious police’s influence in the port city of Jeddah. He is owner of al-Watan newspaper, the country’s most liberal daily. A poet, his liberal leanings could disqualify him as far as the hardline Wahhabi clerics are concerned.
•  Prince Saud Al-Faisal: The veteran foreign minister is respected abroad and has proved one of King Abdullah’s trustiest lieutenants. However, a painful back problem probably rules him out of any move to seek another office.
•  Prince Turki Al-Faisal: Born around 1945 and son of King Faisal, he served as Saudi intelligence chief and as ambassador in London and Washington before retiring in 2006. He is the brother of the Makkah governor and the foreign minister.
•  Prince Miteb Bin Abdullah: The son of King Abdullah. In November 2010, his father handed him full control of the National Guard, an elite Bedouin corps that handles domestic security.
•  Prince Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah: Prince Abdulaziz, whose mother is Palestinian, was made a deputy foreign minister last year signalling his move into the ruling family hierarchy.
•  Prince Khaled Bin Sultan: Son of the late Crown Prince Sultan, he led Arab forces during the 1991 war to oust Iraqi forces from Kuwait. He is deputy defence minister and owner of the influential pan-Arab daily newspaper al-Hayat. He led Saudi forces in their war against Yemeni rebels who strayed into Saudi territory in 2009.
•  Prince Bandar Bin Sultan: Born in 1950, this son of the late Crown Prince was ambassador to Washington between 1983 and 2005. He is Secretary General of the Saudi National Security Council but is thought to have fallen out of favour with Abdullah and other princes due to overzealous diplomatic efforts in recent years.
•  Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef: The son of the late Nayef, he heads Saudi Arabia’s anti-terror campaign and is a deputy minister of interior. Diplomats say he has won plaudits from Western intelligence agencies for his work combating an al Qaeda campaign to destabilise the kingdom from 2003 to 2006. He survived an assassination attempt in 2009 by a suicide bomber posing as a repentant militant.
•  Prince Sultan Bin Salman: The first Arab in space has become the kingdom’s tourism minister and was tipped by the US Embassy to rise to higher office. Sultan was an astronaut in the 1985 Discovery mission. One of his brothers, Prince Abdulaziz, is a well-regarded deputy oil minister and another brother, Prince Faisal, runs the family’s media business.
•  Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal: An entrepreneur and one of the world’s richest men, he is the largest individual investor in Citigroup Inc. His father’s history as a renegade reformer prince who allied with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel-Nasser in the 1960s could hinder his chances of promotion. Islamists also see his pan-Arab entertainment television network Rotana as immoral.