RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, who is believed to be seriously ill, received his brother in Morocco Wednesday, the state news agency said, in the first official report on Sultan in one month.
Saudi Interior Minister Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, who as second deputy prime minister is considered by analysts second in line to the throne, met Sultan in Agadir, where he has been since the end of July, according to SPA.
There were no photographs or television footage immediately available of their meeting.
Diplomats in Riyadh say they believe Sultan, who has been the kingdom’s crown prince and defence minister for the past 48 years, is seriously ill with what some suspect is cancer.
He spent more than one year, from November 2008, in the United States and Morocco receiving treatment and convalescing from his illness, which has not been officially identified.
His last officially reported meeting was with a Moroccan official on September 7. In a photograph from the meeting Sultan, sitting in a chair, appeared smiling and alert.
Sultan, whose official age is 79 but who is thought to be much older, has been crown prince of the Gulf’s biggest economy and the world’s leading oil supplier since his half-brother Abdullah, 86, ascended the throne in August 2005.
Both are sons of King Abdul Aziz al-Saud, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia.
