Saudi Arabia denies would back insurgents in Iraq

RIYADH, Dec 2 (Reuters) Saudi Arabia said there was no truth in an article by a Saudi security adviser suggesting the world's top oil exporter would back Iraq's Muslim Sunnis in the event of a wider sectarian conflict.

Nawaf Obaid, a security adviser to the Saudi government, said on Wednesday the kingdom would intervene with funding and weaponry to prevent Shi'ite militias attacking Iraq's Sunnis once the United States begins pulling out of Iraq.

He also suggested Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, could bring down world oil prices to squeeze Shi'ite power Iran, which Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab countries accuse of meddling in Iraq.

Saudi state news agency SPA issued a statement on Friday attributed to an ''official source'' who rejected Obaid's ideas.

''There is no basis in truth to the article by the writer Nawaf Obaid in the Washington Post of November 29, 2006,'' it said.

''The writer does not represent any official body in Saudi Arabia. What he published only represents his personal opinion and does not in any manner at all represent the policy or positions of the kingdom,'' it added.

''(Saudi Arabia) continually affirms its support for the security, unity and stability of Iraq, with all of its sectarian groups.'' Obaid stressed in the article that the views were his own and not those of the Saudi government.

''I know this article doesn't represent Saudi policies,'' said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Thursday. ''I am in contact with the Saudi government and they realise the necessity of protecting the democratic process.'' A Western diplomat in Riyadh said the official denial confirmed diplomats' belief that the substance of Obaid's article does not reflect Saudi policy. He said at most the article may have been intended as a ''warning''.

Diplomats say Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, is worried that Washington has lost control of Iraq and developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which Arab governments say is driving Islamic extremism and anti-US sentiment in the region.

One diplomat said a visit last week by US Vice President Dick Cheney came at Riyadh's request to express concern over both issues.

Sunni-Shi'ite sectarian violence is threatening to descend into a full-scale war in Iraq, which Saudi Arabia fears could spill over onto its borders.

Saudi Arabia has a Shi'ite minority, and some Saudi Sunni militants have gone to Iraq to join insurgents fighting the US-backed Baghdad government. Saudi willingness to back Sunnis has been tempered by fear of al Qaeda militants in the Sunni insurgency who also oppose the Saudi government.

REUTERS PDM KP1802