Saudi ambassador to US resigns

Saudi Arabia's veteran envoy to Washington Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a former fighter pilot who was close to several US presidents, has resigned for personal reasons, the Saudi government said yesterday.

Mr Bandar was a central figure in efforts to rescue Saudi-US relations from a crisis triggered by the September 11, 2001, attacks on US cities which were carried out by mainly Saudi hijackers.

But the 56-year-old prince has been out of the spotlight for months and officials said he made no secret of his wish to step down after two decades as one of the most high-profile and influential diplomats in Washington.

A foreign ministry statement said Mr Bandar had appealed to King Fahd to relieve him of his duties "for private reasons".

The monarch accepted his resignation and will nominate former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal, currently ambassador to London, to replace him, the ministry said.

"Prince Bandar... was the ambassador with unquestionable access to the White House. He was as much a prince as he was an ambassador," Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East programme at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, told Reuters.