Officially at least, Sweden and Saudi Arabia have resolved their recent dispute over Stockholm’s criticism of Riyadh’s human rights record. The fallout, however, is apparently still being felt in unusual places.
A private zoo in Stockholm said on Wednesday that it had been forced to cancel plans to send two pairs of pygmy marmosets to Riyadh after a Saudi official vetoed the arrangement.
“I had a phone call over Easter saying there would be no monkey business with Sweden,” said Jonas Wahlström, the director of the Skansen Akvariet in Stockholm. “The Saudis have heard that Sweden is a bad country.”
Wahlström’s zoo is famous for breeding the pygmy marmoset, callithrix pygmaea, which is the world’s smallest monkey. At just 13cm long and weighing 150g, they are known to be extremely difficult to keep alive in captivity, but over the past 25 years Stockholm has sent between 450 and 500 specimens to zoos all over the world to strengthen the chances that the species will survive in its last main habitat in the Amazon.
Riyadh’s city zoo is large and well-maintained, Wahlström said, and wanted to showcase the tiny animals. He suspected a low-ranking official had taken fright as a result of the dispute with Sweden. “We will wait a few weeks and try again,” he said.
“It’s a bit comical. I guess I’ll just watch out for when they issue visas for Swedish businessmen again, then maybe they’ll give out visas to monkeys too.”
Sweden’s foreign ministry said last week it expected Saudi Arabia to reopen for Swedish business again as relations returned to normal after the row, which saw the temporary withdrawal of Saudi Arabia’s ambassador. Monkey permits, it appears, are still off limits.
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