News - World: The Guardian newspaper revealed that Saudi Arabia is increasingly at odds with the UAE over the future of Yemen, as Riyadh and Abu Dhabi support rival groups in the south of the country.

News of the UK visit comes as Saudi Arabia tries to end the war in Yemen, and has opened up diplomatic relations with Iran. The US is seeking to persuade Saudi Arabia also to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel.

Saudi Arabia is also courting the UK vote in a November ballot to stage Expo 2030 in Riyadh, the point at which Saudi Arabia 2030 Vision, weaning the kingdom off fossil fuels, is supposed to be realized. The kingdom’s chief rival for Expo is Rome, according to the Guardian.

The UK prime minister’s position on the killing of Khashoggi was that it was “a terrible crime” and Saudi Arabia “must ensure such an atrocity can never happen again”.

The website mentioned that Saudi Arabia is also increasingly at odds with the United Arab Emirates over Yemen’s future, with the two countries backing rival groups in the country’s south, something that disturbs the Foreign Office.

In 2022, Saudi Arabia executed 196 people, the highest number of annual executions that Amnesty International has recorded in the country in the last 30 years. On 12 March last year, the government executed 81 men, including seven Yemenis and one Syrian, in the largest known mass execution in the kingdom’s history.

Polly Truscott, Amnesty International UK’s foreign policy adviser, said: “There must be no question of the UK rolling out the red carpet for Mohammed bin Salman, or of the Saudi ruler being able to use this visit to rehabilitate himself on the world stage.

 “The visit looks set to coincide with the five-year anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi’s sickening assassination and dismemberment at the hands of Saudi agents in Turkey, a crime which has essentially been covered up by the unrepentant Saudi authorities.

“Mohammed bin Salman and his government must be properly held to account for abuses by Saudi officials, including Khashoggi’s murder, the widespread use of torture in Saudi jails and the indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Yemen.”