Riyadh, (AFP) - Former Polish president, Lech Walesa, who is visiting Saudi Arabia, thanked the Kingdom on Sunday for successfully separating the Polish conjoined twins, Olga and Daria Kolacz, in an operation funded by Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz.

Walesa, ex-leader of the legendary Solidarity Trade Union, visited the National Guard s King Abdul Aziz Medical City where the 17-month-old twins are staying since they were separated in January by a 50-strong medical team.

He extended his thanks to the medical team that conducted the operation, as well as the de facto ruler of the Kingdom, Crown Prince Abdullah.

Walesa, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been out of politics since his defeat by Aleksander Kwasniewski in 1995 Presidential Elections, visited Abdullah on Saturday.

The Kingdom s humanitarian initiatives have touched the Polish people deeply, said Walesa in a press statement to SPA.

The twins, who were joined at the abdomen, pelvis, buttocks and spine, arrived in the Kingdom after an offer by the Crown Prince to finance the operation.

Their separation was the ninth such operation to be performed in the Kingdom. The girls are expected to leave for Poland with their mother on Tuesday.