Have you met Naila?

Press, 22 September 1984, Page 14

Have you met Naila?

BARBARA GAMAREKIAN,

By

„, of the New York Times It was a lunch in honour of his Royal Highness, Prince Bandar Ibn Sultan, the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States. As one woman slipped in to take a seat, her arrival was noted by Prince Bandar.

"Ah, it is Naila,” he said, his face breaking into a smile. “Do you know Naila?” he asked his comR anions. “You should meet laila.”

To meet Naila alSowayel is to dispel stereotypical notions about Saudi Arabian women. Miss Sowayel does not stay in the background, veiled, reticent, subservient in a maledominated world. Instead, she is very much the modern woman, outgoing, Suick, confident, the hardriving chief of the 10person bureau of the Saudi Press Agency here. The agency is the official news service of Saudi Arabia and its reports are distributed throughout the Middle East and Africa. As the head of its Washington bureau, Ms Sowayel, who is 34 years old, does more than produce and edit news reports. She is a Suasi-representative of her lovernment, keeping an eye on Washington, maintaining the Saudi presence at both business and social functions around town.

“We . cover primary sources,” said Ms Sowayel, “the White House, Congress, the State Department. And we monitor radio news all night long so that when our reporters arrive in the morning they

can be given some background. We also review major newspapers and wire services and keep our diplomatic corps here informed so that they’re prepared in case they bump into someone at a cocktail party on a Saturday night.” A few weeks ago Ms Sowayel had a somawhat different type of assignment. She spent a number of weeks in Los Angeles producing an Olympic newsletter and setting up the press arrangements for the Saudi national soccer team, which reached the Olympic playoffs for the first time. “It was very exciting,” she said. “We are wild over soccer.”

Ms Sowayel has been a familiar figure on the Washington social circuit for a number of years, in part because she is the daughter of Ibrahim Sowayel, the Saudi Ambassador to Washington from 1964 to 1976. “I have the benefit of the years that my father was Ambassador and my family was very social — it was during the years of Zahedi,” she said, referring to the Iranian Ambassador under Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, who was known throughout the capital for his extravagant entertaining. “Washington was at its social peak: it was very casual, but you met just everyone, and many of those people are still here. I find that good sources are not necessarily official spokesmen. It is often the businessman who deals with them who is willing to talk with you.” As the daughter of an

Arab diplomat, Ms Sowayel gave no thought to a career in journalism in her early years. “When my father was appointed, I was in Europe and decided to stay at finishing school in Paris and Lausanne because I thought that would be the end of it — I would be finished,” she said, laughing. “That is how I was brought up — go to finishing school and get married." But when she joined her family in Washington in 1969, two things happened to change her mind. First, American-style ’ sibling rivalry with her two older brothers led her to a bachelor of arts degree from Wellesley College. then a master’s from the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, where she is studying for a doctorate.

Next, she became fascinated by the journalists who covered her father. “I just liked the power they had over my poor father,” she said. “If he did it, he was in trouble. If he didn’t do it, he was in trouble. And I liked the speed that comes with reporting: everything has a deadline, every day is something new.”

She began work as a Washington reporter for the Saudi Press Agency in 1976, before the agency had a full-time bureau there. Three years later she was asked to set up a bureau and hire a staff.

These days, she says, she primarily edits and handles the distribution of what goes out from Washington on the 24-hour-a--day official wire that is printed in both Arabic and English. “But,” she said, “I

drop by the White House regularly so that they will continue to recognise my face.” ■

The access given to Washington reporters is “fantastic,” in Miss Sowayel’s judgment. “You are given credentials,” she said. “You can ask any questions you want.” That does not mean she always gets the reply she hoped for. “But if you know what you want, if you have good reporters working for you and they ■ask the right questions,” she said, “you find that officials here are extremely co-operative. It doesn’t make them change their policy, but at ’least we know what that policy

What does she think of the United States as a country and Washington as a capital? “Many people in the Middle East think the centre of power and culture is still in Europe,” she said, “but that is not true. Washington has grown so much since I’ve been here, you can feel the power. It is the centre of everything.”

She travels to SAudi Arabia frequently and, upon arrival, immediately dons the traditional dress. “I cover my face and wear the black veil down to my toes,”; she said. “I love it and wish I could do that here. People care more about what you are saying rather than how you look There is something very spiritual and comforting about it.” t -

She would like to return to Saudi Arabia some day to live. “But if I go back home I would like to work,” she said.