SALT, Jordan: After a government hospital ran out of oxygen last month and nine Covid-19 patients died, the country’s monarch, King Abdullah II, paid a brief visit to this small farming town. Dressed in a military uniform, he reprimanded local officials in front of the television cameras.
Earlier, an angry crowd had hit their fists and shoes in a vehicle carrying a court official, forcing him to speed up.
The next day, Salt hosted a royal visit very different from the king’s half-brother, Prince Hamzah bin Hussein. The prince, a critic of the king and his government, called the houses of the deceased and sat down to talk to their families. Two weeks later, he was invited back to a traditional party with the residents.
Visits for the duel – as Jordan has struggled to contain the pandemic and fix a small economy – turned out to be one of the last straws of a long rivalry between the king and his half-brother, according to people on both sides. the split, into a nation that is a major ally of the US.
Within days, Prince Hamzah was effectively placed under house arrest and the government accused him of undermining national security, an action that has disrupted the policy of the desert kingdom nestled between Israel and the occupied West Bank, Saudi Arabia. Iraq and Syria. He has not been seen in public since. The palace says the prince stays at the king’s “care” house.