|
DUBAI: Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said died on Friday evening, state media said early on Saturday without mentioning a cause of death, and a three-day period of national mourning was declared.
Qaboos, 79, had ruled the Gulf Arab state since he took over in a bloodless coup in 1970.
Qaboos had no children and had not publicly appointed a successor. A 1996 statute says the ruling family will choose a successor within three days of the throne becoming vacant.
If they fail to agree, a council of military and security officials, supreme court chiefs and heads of the two consultative assemblies will put in power the person whose name has been secretly written by the sultan in a sealed letter.
However, two Omani newspapers claimed that Oman's new ruler will be Haitham bin Tariq Al-Said. He reportedly took the oath of allegiance as sultan to succeed his cousin Qaboos bin Said.
There was no official Omani government confirmation of the report posted by Al-Watan and Al-Roya newspapers on their Twitter accounts.
A three-day period of official mourning for the public and private sectors has been declared, and flags are to be flown at half mast for 40 days, state media said.
Oman state news agency ONA said Qaboos died after “a wise and triumphant march rich with generosity that embraced Oman and extended to the Arab, Muslim and entire world and achieved a balanced policy that the whole world respected.”
Qaboos had been unwell for years and had spent a week in Belgium undergoing medical treatment in early December.
Qaboos bin Said Al Said 18 November 1940[ – 10 January 2020) was the Sultan of Oman from 23 July 1970 until his death. A fourteenth-generation descendant of the founder of the House of Al Said,he was the longest-serving leader in the Middle East and Arab world at the time of his death.
The only son of Sultan Said bin Taimur of Muscat and Oman, Qaboos was educated in England. After graduating from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he served briefly in the British Army. He returned to Oman in 1966 and was placed under virtual house arrest by his father. In 1970, Qaboos ascended to the Omani throne after overthrowing his own father in a coup d'état, with British support. The country was subsequently re-named the Sultanate of Oman.
As Sultan, Qaboos implemented a policy of modernization and ended Oman's international isolation. His reign saw a rise in living standards and development in the country, the abolition of slavery, the end of the Dhofar Rebellion and the promulgation of Oman's constitution. Suffering from poor health in later life, Qaboos died in 2020. He had no children so he named his cousin, Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, his heir.
Qaboos was born in Salalah in Dhofar on 18 November 1940 as an only son of Sultan Said bin Taimur and Sheikha Mazoon al-Mashani.
He received his primary and secondary education at Salalah, and was sent to a private educational establishment at Bury St Edmunds in England at age 16. At 20, he entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. After graduating from Sandhurst in September 1962, he joined the British Army and was posted to the 1st Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), serving with them in Germany for one year. He also held a staff appointment with the British Army.
After his military service, Qaboos studied local government subjects in England and then completed his education with a world tour chaperoned by Leslie Chauncy. Upon his return in 1966, he was placed under virtual house arrest in the Sultan's palace in Salalah by his father. Here he was kept isolated from government affairs, except for occasional briefings by his father's personal advisers. Qaboos studied Islam and the history of his country. His personal relationships were limited to a handpicked group of palace officials who were sons of his father's advisors and a few expatriate friends such as Tim Landon. Sultan Said said that he would not allow his son to be involved with the developing planning process, and Qaboos began to make known his desire for change—which was quietly supported by his expatriate visitors.
From 2015, Qaboos suffered from colon cancer, for which he received treatment.[48][49] On 14 December 2019, he was reported to be terminal with a short time to live after his stay for medical treatment in UZ Leuven in Belgium and returned home because he wanted to die in his own country.[50][51] He died on 10 January 2020 at the age of 79. The following day, the government declared three days of national mourning and said the country's flag would be flown at half-staff for a period of 40 days.
ARAB News
MUSCAT: Oman's new ruler Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al-Said promised on Saturday to maintain the Gulf Arab state's foreign policy which he said was built on peaceful coexistence and maintaining friendly ties with all nations.
In a speech broadcast on state television, he also called for efforts to develop the relatively small oil producer, continuing the path of his predecessor Sultan Qaboos bin Said who died on Friday. Qaboos, who built modern Oman, had acted as a regional mediator.
The 65-year-old cousin of late Sultan Qaboos was sworn in as the new royal ruler on Saturday morning, the government said
"Haitham bin Tariq was sworn in as the new sultan of the country... after a meeting of the family which decided to appoint the one who was chosen by the sultan," the government said in a tweet.
In his first speech as sultan, Haitham pledged to follow the non-interference policy that made the sultanate a vital regional mediator under Sultan Qaboos who reigned for half a century.
"We will follow the path of the late sultan," he said, dressed in the Omani royals' signature coloured turban and gold-trimmed robes.
He expressed support for "our country's foreign policy of peaceful living among nations and peoples... and not interfering in the internal affairs of others, respecting nations' sovereignty and international cooperation".
And he said that under his reign, Oman would continue to "promote peaceful solutions" to regional and global crises.
Sultan Qaboos, the longest-reigning leader of the modern Arab world who died Friday at the age of 79, was unmarried and had no children, and left no apparent heir.
Tariq Al-Said, a sports enthusiast, held the position of undersecretary of the ministry of foreign affairs for political affairs before becoming the minister of heritage and culture in the mid-1990s.
He graduated from Oxford University in 1979 after studying the Foreign Service Programme and was the first head of Oman's football federation in the early 80s.
Tariq Al-Said 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.
(With agencies)
|
)
)
)
)
)
