Saudi Arabia rejects Rice's criticism
Regional-USA, Politics, 6/22/2005

Saudi Arabia has rejected criticism raised by the US secretary of State Condaleezza Rice about the field of democratic reforms and human rights in the kingdom.

In a joint press conference continued until early Tuesday morning, the Saudi foreign minister prince Saud al-Faisal said that he did not read Rice's speech in Cairo where she criticized his country strongly. He stressed that his country will not accept reforms from outside. Al-Faisal explained that Saudi Arabia is careful at the ultimate end to have the political ambitions in response to the ambitions of the Saudi people.

Observers consider that Rice lessened her tone towards Riyadh. She admitted the right of every and each country to carry out reforms in its own way, though she confirmed Washington's encouragement to accelerate the pace of reforms.

Previous Stories:
  Rice calls to democratic change in the region, criticizes Saudi Arabia   (6/21/2005)
  US congress opposes Riyadh joining WTO   (5/27/2005)
  U.S., Saudi Arabia vow to forge new, strengthened partnership   (4/27/2005)
  Saudi internal affairs not discussed with Bush; Saad al-Hariri role welcomed   (4/27/2005)

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