JORDAN: KING HUSSEIN'S SON ABDULLAH FUTURE HEIR TO THRONE

(26 Jan 1999) English/Nat

Confirming days of reports and rumours, Jordan has announced that King Hussein's oldest son, Abdullah, will replace the king's brother, Hassan, as future successor to the throne.

A one-paragraph royal decree, reported by state television, named Abdullah as crown prince.

In a harsh letter to Hassan, Hussein accused aides to the former crown prince of attempting to oust Hussein's loyalists from the military during the monarch's six-month absence for cancer treatment.

For crown prince Hassan - his brother's designated successor since 1965 - the Jordanian throne is now but a dream.

After days of speculation came official confirmation that King Hussein's replacement would not be his brother but his oldest son Abdullah.

Abdullah is an army major general - in charge of a special force that oversees the security of the royal
family.

His political views are not known, but he is Western educated, having attended military schools in England and the United States.

Experts say Abdullah, although relatively inexperienced, will have time to learn how to rule.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"In the short term nothing will change because his majesty will still be around, supervising and actually running the show himself. And that would be the period when the crown prince will learn the trade of being a king as such."
SUPER CAPTION: Labib Kamhawi, human rights activist

The change in succession to the Hashimite throne seems to have sprung from a major disagreement between Hussein and Hassan.

The king is believed to have accused aides to the former crown prince of attempting to oust his own loyalists from the military during the six-month absence he's taken for cancer treatment.

It's thought Hussein replaced his brother to ensure that his own sons, and not Hassan's, would be Jordan's future kings - which might not have happened if Hassan had taken the throne.

But there is no doubt that Abdullah faces quite a challenge, replacing as he will a man with over 30 years' preparation for the job.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The new crown prince lacks the experience Prince Hassan had over the years. He served through the years, he (Abdullah) may have some experience in the armed forces, but he still has a lot to learn."
SUPER CAPTION: Labib Kamhawi, human rights activist

Abdullah is Hussein's son from his second marriage to Britain's Toni Gardiner, who adopted the name Mona when she converted to Islam upon her marriage to Hussein in 1960.

Some analysts had said Abdullah should be out of the running, since his mother is not Arab.

And until recently King Hussein had appeared to be preparing his son Hamza for the throne.

He is the 18-year-old son of Hussein and his fourth wife, the American-Lebanese Queen Noor.

Alone of his five sons, Hamza was at Hussein's bedside during his father's battle with cancer, cementing a special bond, confidants of the monarch said.

But it is thought that in the end, the monarch judged it too risky to name an untested teenager as his heir.

Hussein finally returned to Jordan last week after months of treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

His return eased widespread public concern over the implications of the king's poor health on the future of Jordan, where 90 percent of the population has been born since Hussein took the throne 45 years ago.

The monarch inherited the throne from his own father, Talal, in 1952 at the age of 17.

The constitution stipulates that his successor should be his eldest son.
And Abdullah's reinstatement revives the Hashimite tradition of passing the throne to the eldest son.
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