Minority Shias in Saudi Arabia have asked the Sunni-led authorities to end discrimination in a remote province bordering Yemen, which Saudi Arabia fears could give al Qaeda a staging post for a new campaign. Al Qaeda staged suicide attacks on foreign residential compounds.
Oil installations and government buildings in a campaign to destabilise the world's biggest oil exporter in 2003 but it ran out of steam after its last attack in 2006. Saudi Arabia has expressed concern that al Qaeda militants could use Yemen to restart their campaign. Al Qaeda has staged attacks there over the past year, and southerners have called for secession from the north.
Saudi King Abdullah removed the governor of the Najran region last year after the Ismaili Shias, a majority in the area, complained about efforts to settle Sunni Yemenis and give them housing and jobs in an effort to marginalise them further. Violent clashes broke out in 2000 between hundreds of Ismailis and the police in Najran. Ismailis hope the appointment of a new governor reflects a new government strategy for pacifying the area.
"We are calling for tolerance to be the foundation that promotes nationalism for all, as discrimination reaches us in the simplest elements of our existence as citizens, drawing onto our whole lives," said the petition signed by 181 people, which has been posted on an Ismaili website. "We are subject to marginalisation in jobs and positions," they said, calling for openness towards all Islamic sects.
Saudi media have reported plans to improve the infrastructure in Najran and the government is setting up a new industrial hub in nearby Jizan province to create jobs in the poor south. Yemen and Saudi Arabia share a long mountainous border which is porous enough to be used for all sorts of smuggling, from illegal Muslim pilgrims to drugs and weapons.
In April, the Saudi Interior Ministry said it had arrested near the Yemeni border 11 al Qaeda-linked militants it accused of planning attacks after King Abdullah appointed his son Prince Mishaal as Najran's new governor. "The people are optimistic after the arrival of the new governor," said Mohammed al-Askar, a leading Ismaili activist who met the governor with others after he took office.
"Najran and Jizan are some of the major crossing points between Saudi Arabia and Yemen and major posts of smuggling," said Dubai-based analyst Mustafa Alani. "It is not just a question of satisfying demands of people, it's about the security of a border," he said.