Saudi minister warns against militants

Saudi Arabia is caught between the west and Islam

By Middle East correspondent Frank Gardner

Saudi Arabia's Interior Minister, Prince Nayef, has warned Saudi citizens not to sympathise with those he says are trying to hurt the country in the name of Islam.

His comments were seen as a veiled admission that the Saudi government faces problems in dealing with growing support for the Saudi-born dissident, Osama bin Laden..

Speaking in a televised speech on Thursday, Prince Nayef laid down the law, telling security officers not to sympathise with dissenters.

He urged them to show no compassion towards anyone trying to disrupt the country's security, not even their relatives.

Unfortunately, we find in our homeland those who sympathise with people who try to damage our security in the name of Islam

Saudi minister

It was a tacit admission that increasing numbers of Saudis sympathise with Bin Laden - the prime suspect in last month's attacks in the United States - and the Taleban in Afghanistan who back him.

"Unfortunately, we find in our homeland those who sympathise with people who try to damage our security in the name of Islam," Prince Nayef said.

Analysts say the campaign against terrorism led by Saudi Arabia's ally the United States is causing difficulties for the Saudi royal family.

'Worsening crisis'

"It leaves [the royal family] with a crisis that is likely to get worse with time because, basically, they have Muslim responsibilities that they have to meet," said Palestinian author Sayeed Abu Rich, who has written extensively about Saudi Arabia.

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He said the campaign was putting the royal family in an impossible position.

"They are the guardians of Islam's holy shrines, and there is simultaneously, for instance, the United States, so it is becoming very difficult to reconcile the two ..."

Anti-western rhetoric

The Saudi government has been alarmed by recent anti-western speeches made by radical Saudi cleric Sheikh Hamoud al-Shuaibi.

He has told Muslims not to help "infidels" against Afghanistan's Taleban rulers.

Until a few weeks ago, Saudi Arabia was one of only three countries to recognise the Taleban, whose austere interpretation of Islam still appeals to many devout Saudis.

Each day that America bombs the Taleban, anti-Western opposition increases within Saudi Arabia.

The challenge for the country's rulers is to contain it without appearing to side too openly with the United States and its allies.