By Souhail Karam RIYADH, April 26 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah visited the oil-producing Eastern Province on Sunday to launch development projects, following sectarian tension there among the kingdom's restive Shi'ite Muslim minority. The visit "reflected the king's desire to have a first-hand knowledge of citizens' requirements and follow up on the progress of development projects," newspapers quoted local governor Prince Mohammed bin Fahd as saying. An official said the monarch would launch projects worth 54 billion riyals ($14.4 billion), mainly in the power generation and petrochemicals industries to create more job opportunities in a region that generates most of the kingdom's revenues. The six-day visit will also see the monarch chair a weekly cabinet meeting in Dammam, a few miles away from the town of Awwamiya where firebrand preacher Nimr al-Nimr breached a taboo last month by suggesting in a sermon that Shi'ites could one day seek their own separate state. The king will also host ordinary citizens from the region where they can present complaints, in keeping with a long tradition of previous rulers. The secession threat, which diplomats say is unprecedented since the 1979 Iranian revolution provoked anti-Saudi protests, followed clashes between the Sunni religious police and Shi'ite pilgrims near the tomb of Prophet Mohammad in the city of Medina, in the western region of the vast desert state. Saudi officials say Shi'ites make up less than 10 percent of the population, although diplomats believe the figure is closer to 15 percent. Most live in the Eastern Province. "The challenge here is how we can go beyond (problems) via affirming our national identity, which is how we measure whether we have achieved a modern state...," al-Riyadh daily said in an editorial comment hinting at lack of development in some areas. Many Shi'ites say they continue to suffer second class status in a state whose official brand of mainstream Sunni Islam sees them as virtual heretics. The rising influence of Shi'ite Iran, after the 2003 Iraq invasion empowered its Shi'ite majority, has revived official fears that Shi'ites could become a fifth column against the Saudi state, analysts say. Shi'ite districts of the Eastern Province are visibly less affluent than other parts of Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter which has enjoyed huge oil revenues in recent years. The Sunni southwest near Yemen is impoverished. "This is a very important region for the country," a Western diplomat said. "The king spends a lot of time in Riyadh and Jeddah. One can actually wonder why he does not spend more time in the Eastern province." (Editing by Andrew Hammond and Jon Boyle)
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki addresses a news conference after the International Somali donors conference in Brussels April 23, 2009. International donors pledged on Thursday to give Somalia more than $250 ...
