Saudi king in Mecca for crown prince's burial

Saudi royal officials received the body of Crown Prince Nayef Abdul-Aziz in Jiddah on Sunday after a flight from Geneva. He was the second heir to the throne to die outside the country in less than a year.     

A burial ceremony was set for the holy city of Mecca, where the 88-year-old King Abdullah gathered with royal family members and international envoys. Abdullah has now outlived two appointed successors from among the elderly group of sons of Saudi's founding monarch, King Abdul-Aziz.     

Health issues increasingly preoccupy the ruling inner circle in Saudi Arabia and show the vivid contrast between a leadership born at the dawn of Saudi's oil-rich age and the current population heavily weighted toward youth  with more than half under 25 years old.     

Saudi authorities have led the efforts in the Western-allied Gulf to counter Arab Spring-inspired calls for reforms, using a combination of crackdowns, intimidation and lavish spending to offer state jobs and handouts. Gulf officials have proposed closer cooperation on security matters, including monitoring social media.     

The 78-year-old Nayef, the country's interior minister, was considered wary of even the modest changes brought by King Abdullah, including pledges to allow women to vote and run in the next municipal elections in 2015. Women activists had planned Sunday to mark the anniversary of a campaign to challenge the ultraconservative kingdom's ban on female driving, but they postponed the protests because of the official mourning period for Nayef.     

The leading figure as the next heir to the throne, 76-year-old Defense Minister Prince Salman, also is not viewed as a dynamic reformer willing to confront the behind-the-scenes power center in Saudi Arabia  the Islamic religious establishment that gives the monarchy its legitimacy to rule.     

Later this week, a special council of royal family members is expected to convene to select the next crown prince of OPEC's top oil producer. The wider succession shake-up also will be closely watched.     

It opens the possibility that a member of the so-called "third generation"  the thousands of younger descendants of King Abdul-Aziz  could move into positions traditionally considered in line for the throne.     

The Saudi leadership keeps a tight lid on health-related issues. The cause of the crown prince's death in Geneva was not disclosed.     

AP