Change in continuity in Oman. Sultan Qaboos Ben Said Al-Said, whose death was announced Friday January 10, at the age of 79, was replaced the next day by his cousin, the Minister of Culture, Haitham Ben Tarek Al-Said, 66 years old. However, everything suggests that the new monarch should not deviate much from the path traced by his predecessor, who ruled for nearly fifty years over the petro-monarchy of the confines of the Arabian Peninsula.
In his first speech, Sultan Haitham undertook to follow the path of Qabus, especially in foreign policy, an area where the former sovereign stood out for his concern for balance. The new occupier of the throne of Oman, a country bordering Saudi Arabia and close to Iran – the rival powers of the Middle East, has promised to pursue diplomacy "Based on peaceful coexistence between nations (…) and on non-interference in the internal affairs of others ".
Under Qabus, the sultanate stayed away from the main regional conflicts, starting with the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). Although weakened in recent years by cancer which has finally prevailed, the old monarch has known how to say no to the war in Yemen and the boycott of Qatar, two initiatives of his bellicose neighbors, the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman and the regent of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Mohammed Ben Zayed. In the tussle between Washington and Tehran over the nuclear issue, Muscat has always played an intermediary role.
Haitham Ben Tarek, a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before taking on the culture portfolio, is sometimes used by Qabous as his personal envoy on the international scene, and is no stranger to this cautious diplomacy. A sign that a break with the tradition of neutrality of Oman is unlikely, Muscat saw Sunday foreign dignitaries with very varied profiles: the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, l UAE strongman, Mohammed Ben Zayed, and his rival, the Emir of Qatar Tamim Al Thani, etc.
Fluid succession
The fluidity with which the succession unfolded also augurs for a smooth transition. Qabous having no children and having appointed no dolphin, the rule was that the new sultan should be chosen by members of the Al-Said royal family. After three days of deliberations, in the absence of consensus, it was planned to rely on the name recorded in a sealed letter, left for this purpose by the deceased sovereign.
