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Saudi King Shuffles Cabinet

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<i> A Times Staff Writer</i>

King Fahd of Saudi Arabia replaced his oil and finance ministers on Wednesday--the fifth anniversary of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait--in the biggest Cabinet shake-up since the Saudi monarch came to power in 1982.

Fahd’s four brothers retained their key Cabinet posts, as first deputy prime minister and ministers of defense, Interior and public works; Fahd’s nephew remains foreign minister.

No reason was given for the changes. Saudi watchers said they were unaware of any tension between the ousted ministers and the royal family.

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In the shuffle, Suleiman ibn Abdulaziz Sulaim, the commerce minister and a USC graduate, replaces Mohammed Aba Khayl as finance minister. Ali ibn Ibrahim Naimi, president of the Aramco oil company, replaces Oil Minister Hisham Nazir.

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