Oman names culture minister as successor to Sultan Qaboos

Oman announced on Saturday that culture minister Haitham bin Tariq al Said has been named as the new ruler of the Arabian country and the successor to longtime ruler Sultan Qaboos.

The announcement came as Omanis lined the streets of the capital, Muscat, to catch a glimpse of the motorcade carrying the body of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who died hours earlier at the age of 79.

Qaboos was the Middle East's longest-ruling monarch, seizing power in a 1970 palace coup. He was known internationally for his diplomatic balancing in the volatile Persian Gulf.

The ruler often served as a facilitator of talks between adversaries Iran and the US.

He had been ailing for years and was in Belgium in December for treatment.

Soldiers stood guard along the streets and troops stood in machine gun nests atop SUVs as the sultan's body was taken to burial.

Qaboos's letter

Oman state TV said authorities had opened a letter by Sultan Qaboos bin Said naming his successor, without elaborating. State TV then announced shortly after that Haitham bin Tariq al Said is the country's ruling sultan.

Oman's Defense Council had earlier said it met with the Royal Family Council, inviting its members to select a successor.

According to Oman's succession laws, if the family council cannot agree on a successor the country's authorities are to unseal a letter written by Sultan Qaboos containing his choice for successor.

Al Said, who was serving as the Minister of National Heritage and Culture, often played an important diplomatic role, representing Oman abroad and welcoming Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, for example, upon their arrival to the country for a visit in 2016.

A top diplomat in the United Arab Emirates described Qaboos as a “wise and inspiring leader" and extended his country's sincere condolences to the people of Oman.

“Today we lost a historic and renaissance figure of high class with the death of Sultan Qaboos," UAE's Minister of State or Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash wrote on Twitter.

In the United States, former President George W. Bush issued a statement saying that he and former first lady Laura Bush are saddened by the sultan's death.

“He was a stable force in the Middle East and a strong US ally. His Majesty had a vision for a modern, prosperous, and peaceful Oman, and he willed that vision into reality,” Bush said, adding that he and his wife visited him in Muscat last fall.

Coup

Qaboos, the eighth ruler of the al Said dynasty that governed Oman since 1744, was born on November 18, 1940 in Dhofar.

In 1958, he headed to England to complete his education, strengthening historic ties between Britain and the Omani royal family. He studied for two years at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst and served six months in the British army in West Germany, returning to England in 1962 to study local government.

From 1964-70, Qaboos was confined to the royal palace in Salalah and denied any role in running Oman.

He became disenchanted with his father's methods and sceptical of the army's ability to defeat Dhofari rebels.

When oil exports began in 1967, Sultan Said, accustomed to tight financial constraints, was reluctant to use the revenue for development.

Britain, with considerable clout then over Gulf rulers, helped Qaboos overthrow his father in a palace coup on July 23, 1970.
Sultan Said was forced to abdicate after some resistance and spent the last two years of his life in exile in England.

The new sultan, then only 30 years old, inherited a country with little infrastructure, few skilled administrators and none of the basic institutions of government.

Qaboos gradually asserted his authority by taking over the role of prime minister and the ministries of finance, defence and foreign affairs, which he retained.

He fought Dhofar rebels with help from Britain, Jordan and Iran. Through military advances and by offering rebel leaders state jobs, Qaboos ended the revolt within six years of taking office.

Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution directed Qaboos' attention to the Strait of Hormuz, through which almost a fifth of global oil passes. He pledged to keep the strait open and in 1980 signed a deal to let US forces use Omani facilities for emergencies.

In 1981, Qaboos began widening political participation and free elections for an advisory council were held in 2003.