Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Saudi prince says poverty a primary driver of terrorism

Fadi Khalil Associated Press

AMMAN, Jordan — Poverty and unemployment among Arabs are fundamental reasons for the spread of terrorism, a Saudi prince said Sunday at the opening of a conference on small loans for the poor.

The comments by Prince Talal bin Abdul-Aziz, brother of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd, come as Arab leaders try to curb the spread of Islamic extremism throughout a region consumed by the American-led war in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Unemployment creates one of the cornerstones of terrorism, and the poor who cannot get food on his table resorts to other means, which are involuntary human reactions,” the prince said while opening the four-day Middle East-Africa Microcredit Summit in Amman, Jordan’s capital.

Western officials have long urged Arab governments to reform their societies and improve human rights records to remedy conditions believed capable of fostering terrorism.

Saudi Arabia, which terrorists have targeted in a series of attacks since last year, came under intense international pressure after the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States to reform its society and crack down on militants and their financial backers. Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 plane hijackers involved in the attacks were born in Saudi Arabia.

The government since has launched an aggressive crackdown on militants.

Sunday’s conference was organized by the Microcredit Summit Campaign, a Washington-based organization that tries to improve conditions in developing countries by facilitating loans to poverty-stricken communities.

Microcredit is a program of small loans and other financial services for the very poor that allows them to generate income. The loans can be as small as $20.