Crown Prince Takes Over for Hussein

AMMAN, Jordan —  The transition to a Jordan without King Hussein commenced Saturday when the government declared the dying monarch too sick to rule and his son and heir, Abdullah, was sworn in as acting head of state.

With Hussein losing his battle against cancer and placed on life support, his 47-year reign came to an end. The duties and responsibilities of the monarchy moved to a career army officer with little political experience who was named crown prince just 11 days ago.

Abdullah, 37, became regent in a brief ceremony before the Jordanian Cabinet.

The death of Hussein, who has been unconscious since Wednesday, could take hours or days, a family friend said.

Fearful of potential unrest or other threats to the stability of one of Washington’s closest Middle Eastern allies, President Clinton on Saturday pledged to “stand by Jordan” and expedite a $300-million economic aid package.

Hussein’s American-born wife, Queen Noor, made her first appearance since she accompanied her husband in a final trip home to Jordan last week. Flanked by dozens of soldiers, she waded through a surging crowd of grieving Jordanians who held vigil outside the King Hussein Medical Center, where the monarch languished.

She looked tired and shed of makeup, a tradition of mourning here, as she attempted to acknowledge repeated shouts of loyalty to the head of the Hashemite dynasty.

Four of Hussein’s five sons also stepped outside the hospital to greet the emotional crowds, who, in their anguish, mobbed the young princes and forced them to retreat.

The 63-year-old king has been unconscious since Wednesday, the day before he and his entourage left the United States for Jordan, said Marwan Muasher, Amman’s ambassador to the United States who was also on the flight.

The king’s personal physician, Lt. Gen. Samir Farraj, said Saturday that Hussein had been sedated and placed on a respirator after he had difficulty breathing. Hussein’s kidneys and liver have failed, Farraj said.

Daoud Hanania, a leading Jordanian doctor and lifelong friend of the king, paid a bedside visit Saturday morning to Hussein, one of the rare non-family members to do so, and concluded: “There is no hope of recovery.”

Hanania, former surgeon general of the Jordanian Armed Forces and former director of the King Hussein hospital, said Hussein is not clinically dead because he still shows brain activity.

As long as the brain continues to function, he said, the family will not consider disconnecting the respirator, in keeping with Islamic tradition and medical norms.

Instead, he said, the family will “let nature take its course.”

Despite his kidney failure, Hussein is not on dialysis, which means that no effort is being made to rid his body of toxins. Hanania, who is not treating the king, said he expected that Hussein will die within one to three days.

“If you were to [put him on dialysis], you only prolong the agony,” the doctor said. “He is not going to recover the bone marrow. His blood cells are not going to come back. His liver . . . is not going to recover.”

The frail monarch lies in the hospital’s Royal Suite, which has two sick rooms, a small operating theater and sleeping quarters being used by Noor. It is equipped with top-of-the-line machinery available for the gamut of intensive care.

Hanania recalled having to persuade Hussein to build the suite in the first place. Hussein resisted, saying it was not necessary.

“And now the irony is he’s come there to die,” said Hanania, who first met the king when they were teenage students in England more than 40 years ago. He has been involved with most of the king’s treatments through the years.

Clothed in a hospital gown, Hussein was surrounded by his wife and children in the hushed, simply decorated suite, built ultimately by the sultan of Oman. His hands and face are slightly swollen, another sign of imminent death, Hanania said.

“I went and kissed his forehead . . . to say goodbye,” he said.

As the king lay dying, his eldest son moved to assume the throne.

Abdullah served as regent during Hussein’s most recent 10-day absence for a last-ditch cancer treatment.

As soon as Hussein returned to the country, the regency expired. Because Hussein was already incapacitated, Jordan passed through nearly 24 hours, in effect, without a king.

The Cabinet action Saturday ended the power vacuum, at least formally.

Doctors informed the Cabinet that Hussein was “unable to carry out his normal duties,” and the ministers deputized Abdullah.

“The constitutional vacuum has to be filled,” Information Minister Nasser Judeh said.

Though he now exercises most of the powers of the crown, Abdullah will not be called king until Hussein dies.

Jordanian officials hope for a smooth, gradual transition that will allow citizens to grow accustomed to Abdullah before they must say their final farewells to Hussein. Yet even as Judeh and other officials offered reassurances that Jordan is “a country of continuity,” there were reports of panic buying of U.S. dollars.

At the Al Alami foreign exchange in the Gardens neighborhood of central Amman, the capital, the manager said many more people than usual were coming into the shop to exchange Jordanian dinars for dollars.

The reason is clear, the manager said. “People are worried.”

Normally, a total of $300,000 worth of dinars is exchanged a day; Saturday’s was $500,000. The shop was closed Friday, so Saturday was the first day back at work since the king’s return.

Despite the run on dollars, the Jordanian currency remained stable.

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has transferred an untold amount of money to the Jordanian Central Bank to help shore up the dinar, government officials said.

Abdullah has also sought to assure Jordanians and foreign powers that he will continue the policies of his father. In an interview Thursday with The Times and five other publications, he promised to be an “extension” of Hussein and signaled support for democratic reform and peace treaties with Israel.

He has the support of the military, but he does not have the peacemaking skills and diplomatic prowess of his father. Thrust unexpectedly into the role of crown prince, and now acting king, he is largely an unknown for most Jordanians.

From the posh neighborhoods of wealthy western Amman to the struggling merchants and refugees of eastern Amman, Jordanians sought to come to terms with what the king’s demise will mean for a country whose identity is so wrapped in the monarch’s mantle.

“We are all just waiting for what is coming,” said Numan Malkawi, 26, a tour guide who was surfing the Web at a small Internet center in western Amman. “It is so difficult now. All of us are discussing the situation with our family, our friends, and all of us are worried.”

Outside the Piccadilly supermarket, a 24-year-old Palestinian named Nidal said he is worried about possible friction between Jordanians and Palestinian Jordanians in the wake of the king’s death.

“Maybe he is the only one who knows how to keep the Jordanians and the Palestinians together in one unit,” said Nidal, an accountant. “His son doesn’t have the experience to do this, and I think it is very difficult.”

For updates on King Hussein’s condition, check The Times’ Web site: http://ukobiw.net.

* FOREIGN AID PLAN: U.S. seeks to preempt economic instability in Jordan and possible Iraqi meddling. A31