Saudi officials say Fahd in stable condition

Saudi Arabia's King Fahd is in stable condition and doctors' reports are reassuring, the foreign minister said yesterday, a day after the monarch was taken to hospital with pneumonia.

Fears about the king's health heightened on Friday after a royal statement urged Saudis to pray for his recovery.

Should Fahd die, diplomats expect a smooth succession in the kingdom, the world's biggest oil exporter, which has been fighting al- Qaeda militants trying to topple the royal family.

Saudi officials said yesterday that the king, aged 83, had had water drained from his lungs.

"Thank God, his condition is stable and the doctors are reassuring about the subject. We all pray for his speedy recovery, God willing," the foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, told a news conference in the capital Riyadh.

Crown Prince Abdullah has been running the day-to-day affairs of the Gulf Arab state since the king suffered a stroke in 1995, which incapacitated him.

If Fahd dies Prince Abdullah, a cautious reformist, is expected to ascend the throne and Defence Minister Prince Sultan will become crown prince.

Life appeared normal in Riyadh yesterday with no sign of extra security. Gulf leaders concluded a scheduled summit in the city, which Bahrain's king had opened by wishing King Fahd "good health and wellbeing". State TV earlier showed Prince Abdullah, the king's half-brother, meeting the leaders on their arrival.

Despite the official assurances, King Fahd's health was of great concern to many Saudis in a country where information is often filtered and rumours fly. Some believed the monarch was in a coma. Others took the prayer request as an ominous sign.

"I think the fact the government so quickly told us about the king's condition means things are very serious this time," Abu Fahad, a 24-year-old university student said.

Businessman Mohammed Sulaiman said: "I actually think he is already dead and that the authorities are holding out on telling people so that the news doesn't come as too much of a shock."

Rumours about King Fahd's health have often surfaced in Saudi Arabia and on world oil markets since he fell ill 10 years ago. But this time they appeared to be better founded.

Reports that he was sick were blamed for a 4.7 per cent drop in Saudi stock prices on Wednesday. In morning trade yesterday the index was down nearly one per cent, but edged up later in the day on news the king's condition was stable.

Oil prices jumped to $52 a barrel on Friday on expectations of high US petrol demand and reports the king was ill.

Saad al-Hariri, son of Lebanon's late former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, flew to Saudi Arabia yesterday to visit Fahd, even though he is fighting elections in Beirut today, aides said.

Like his assassinated father, Saad holds both Saudi and Lebanese citizenship and runs a large business in the kingdom.

Fahd has ruled Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Islam, since June 1982.

Prince Abdullah, commander of the national guard, has overseen a crackdown on militants who waged a campaign of suicide attacks, hostage-taking and assassinations in the Gulf Arab state, birthplace of al- Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The royal family maintains a tight grip on power in the conservative state, home to Islam's two holiest sites. Its strong ties with Washington has, however, sparked a violent backlash from Islamist militants loyal to bin Laden.