The Gulf state of Oman, led by the al-Said dynasty since the eighteenth century, is a sultanate. The country is governed centrally and has no political parties. In recent decades, Oman has modernized rapidly and prosperity has grown strongly. This partly explains why satisfaction with the government is relatively high. But the unequal distribution of wealth and corruption also provoked resistance in this country during the Arab Spring. On January 17, 2011, around two hundred people protested against high prices and corruption . The demands were directed against political authority, without questioning the position of the head of state. This sultan Qaboos bin Said, who was quite popular among the population, appeared willing to respond to some of the dissatisfaction.
An authoritarian but enlightened leader
Sultan Qaboos bin Said al-Said (November 18, 1940- ) took over power from his father Said bin Taimur (1910-1972) in a bloodless coup in 1970. He lived his last two years in exile in Great Britain , the country of which Oman was a protectorate between 1891 and 1971. Qaboos himself remained childless.
The Sultan also became Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Defense and Finance. He successfully tried to create unity between the different tribes in the country. Under his rule, the first isolated Oman became a member of the Arab League and the United Nations.
Source: Sgt. Jerry Morrison (edited), Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
The economy grew mainly due to increasing income from oil and gas and a lot was invested in education. Qaboos, who leads a relatively austere lifestyle, combined modernization with the preservation of traditional architecture and clothing customs.
The human rights situation in Oman is considered relatively good, but media is strictly controlled. Women hold quite good positions and in 2004 Oman had its first female minister.
The Omani population is very young: about 43 percent is under the age of fifteen. Perhaps this could become a factor in the growth of dissatisfaction. This now seemed to be limited by the binding power of the sultan, whom the older Omanis in particular have great respect for.
Hundreds of people protested again on February 18 and 26 . Once again it became clear that the sultan was not the target, because the demonstrators shouted slogans that were intended as a statement of support.
Arson supermarket Sohar / Source: Pranav21391, Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
The mood changed over the weekend of February 26 and 27, when around two thousand people blocked the area around the northern industrial city of Sohar, two hundred and thirty kilometers from the capital Muscat. Two government buildings and a looted supermarket were set on fire.
When the confrontation with stone-throwing demonstrators escalated, police opened fire. Two, but according to other sources, six deaths. At least twenty people were also injured.
Peaceful demonstrations took place elsewhere, including in Muscat.
Protests were then also reported from the northeastern coastal city of Sur, the southern port city of Salalah and from Al Buraimi, on the border with the United Arab Emirates.
The aim of these protests was to tackle corruption and the resignation of ministers who were found to be guilty of it. In addition, it was demanded that the advisory Shoera Council be given legislative powers and that wealth should be distributed more fairly.
At the beginning of March, the protests spread to the oil region around the town of Haima, in the center of the country. Oil industry workers staged a sit-in to demand the government invest more in the region.
This form of protest also occurred in Muscat and Sohar. In both places the custom from other Arab countries of setting up a tent camp in front of government buildings had been adopted. The call for an elected parliament and a new constitution was now heard more clearly than before.
In March, employees of several Omani companies stopped work, mainly to demand wage increases. For example, there was a strike at Petroleum Development of Oman (PDO) in Muscat, at the airline Oman Air and various financial institutions such as BankMuscat.
The Netherlands and Oman
The Netherlands became indirectly involved, just as the unrest in Oman increased in scale, because of the state visit of Queen Beatrix, Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima, planned for March 6 to 8. This would happen in the presence of an extensive Dutch trade delegation, which would visit Sohar, among others. Ambitious expansion plans were being prepared for this city from which the Dutch business community could also benefit, including in the form of orders for shipbuilding, ports and oil. But Sohar was just now the center of demonstrations.
After consultation with Oman, the Netherlands decided to change the nature of the visit: it was not canceled, but became private.
It mainly consisted of a dinner on March 8, invited by Head of State Qaboos.
Nevertheless, criticism was heard from the House of Representatives that a private visit also had political significance because it could be interpreted as support for the Omani government. Beatrix’s
state visit to Qatar, planned for March 9 and 10, did go ahead. Until then, the social protests had ignored this Gulf state. What had also been intended in Oman happened here: a delegation with representatives of top companies made agreements on more intensive economic cooperation.
The largest demonstration to date took place on April 22, when around three thousand people took to the streets in Salalah after Friday prayers.
In May, the police broke up the protest encampments and since then the social unrest has subsided somewhat. But on July 29, about a thousand demonstrators again wanted to hold a protest march in Sohar after Friday prayers, being called to do so via social media. They demanded the release of people who had been arrested there and were still in custody. However, the authorities did not allow the protest.
Compensations
In response to the protests, the sultan replaced ministers and by mid-March the number of personnel changes in the cabinet reached twelve. He also decided to transfer a number of legislative powers to the Shoera Council.
After the violent protests in Sohar, Qaboos announced an employment program that should lead to the creation of fifty thousand government jobs.
State news agency ONA reported on February 15 that Qaboos had decided to increase the minimum wage for approximately one hundred and fifty thousand employees in the private sector. In March, income provisions for people without work, such as pensions, were also improved. On March 15, the sultan ordered a salary increase of a maximum of 186 euros per month for civil servants, effective April 1.
On April 17, 1.8 billion euros were pledged for improvements to housing and infrastructure over the next ten years. That amount came from a pot of around 15 billion euros with which the combined Gulf states wanted to take the wind out of the sails of the social unrest in Bahrain and Oman.
Convictions
Times of Oman newspaper reported on July 6 that an Omani court had sentenced twelve demonstrators from Sohar to sentences of 1 to 3.5 years. In June, sentences of up to five years had already been imposed on thirteen detainees and 55 people had been sentenced to a maximum of one year in prison for participating in demonstrations. In the more serious cases, accusations included that those involved had thrown explosives at security forces.
This brought the total number of convicts to eighty. On April 20, it was announced that Sultan Qaboos had granted amnesty to 234 arrested demonstrators.
This article is part of a special on the Arab Spring. This includes Mauritania, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan, Syria, Morocco, Yemen and Libya.