The arab worlds longest serving leader has died. This of a man is credited with modernizing his country and in a volatile region prioritizing diplomacy as a division so will that policy continue under the new moniker this is inside story. Welcome to the program im often dennis among these mourning the death of a man who transformed the nation Sultan Qaboos bin sayit was 79 and had been ill for some time over the course of 50 years he turned to pull country in the Arabian Peninsula into a modern state which stayed to diplomatically neutral in a region divided by conflict amman and several of its neighbors have now declared 3 days of mourning. Cabooses successor will sworn in just a few hours after his death was announced hey fen been tarik immediately promised to build on his late cousins legacy. But see if we taught in new york we remain guided by the late sultans wisdom Going Forward we will preserve and embark on the achievements he made this is what we are adamant to do to follow in his footsteps with respect to International Relations we will follow in the same course set out by the late sultan we will embrace foreign policies based on peaceful coexistence without any interference in Domestic Affairs of other states are they take a closer look than it to haitham been tarik outside actually is a prominent member of the ruling side family in amman he graduated from the u. K. s 2 most prestigious universities oxford and cambridge prior to his inauguration he was a minister of heritage and culture he helped that place for 18 years the 65 year old was also head of the vision 2040 committee helping to develop a mans economic and social strategy well speak to our guest in a moment but 1st rob matheson looks back Sultan Qaboos is life. Bin Saeed Al Saeed was an only son born in 1942 a life of royal privilege and to a father he would overthrow 30 years later sutton co boss was educated in oman and then at a private school in the u. K. Before graduating from Sandhurst Military Academy and serving in the british army for several months on his return to a man in 1966 his determination to modernize his country is said to have been ignored by his father. 4 years later backed by the british Sultan Qaboos seize the throne he was immediately plunged into his 1st crisis an uprising by communists in though far in the south of a man who wanted independence it took a further 6 years before the fighting ended with the man being supported by forces from britain jordan and iran. A mans links with iran as well as its Foreign Policy of maintaining good relations with other neighboring countries have made it one of the main negotiators in the gulf. That flexible Foreign Policy has been controversial in october 2800. 00 sort on caboose met israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the omani capital muscat the meeting dismayed critics who said arab states should not be hosting israeli leaders until peace was established between israel and the palestinians a mans foreign minister said his country was simply facilitating efforts towards negotiations. So had rarely been seen in public since he went through lengthy medical treatment in germany in 2015 he was unmarried and had neither children nor siblings and he did not publicly name a successor. Time to introduce our guest now from muscat in oman we have hooshang has an yari professor of International Relations and security issues. University in amman here in doha we have. Assistant professor of politics at katters University Studies center in brussels in belgium guy burton and adjunct professor of International Affairs at the sally s. College thank you very much indeed for joining us lets go to muscat 1st and Sultan Qaboos is seems to have been universally loved. And respected abroad. I absolutely he was adored by his people despite their hardship that to a country. Meant true because of their water type situation in the region on the price of oil but never to this because of his carry case mattie personality and the. Father of the nation he was extreme be. Respected by the people. For a cause because if you look at the time that he took over as as such down there was nothing in the country there was on her to. Say were going to call a school. Nothing more than that and now you can find that many universities to thousands of students and also in terms of infrastructure of the country to build the modern country this is why do people dont seem to space him he created then you are mom right and they brought further afield 70 in the gulf region i mean there was a huge amount of respect for the man who many didnt seem to really know he was pretty i think matz it because he didnt really attend meetings but nonetheless his presence was always felt. Exactly he was not very well known because of this thing but the but however he was respected as a ruler he was respected us are some of the 8 or he managed to sit together people from every every corner of the world i mean he was able to sit together in other states and on iran he was fundamental in manage in some issues regarding the g. C. C. Current crisis he was also important in mediating in many issues and he as you mention in the report he said that he would receive to be said of an attorney who was very controversial on one point but on the other hand he showed how interested he was in fixing problems in the in the middle is using his own a charismatic way of doing Foreign Policy right and guy in brussels many describe his greatest achievement is being. Keeping basically keeping his country out of the many conflicts that are raging in the region. Yeah thank you for having me and yes thats certainly the case i mean he very much kept you know his country independent and whats interesting is that in your report you pointed out that his successor and cousin has made a very clear that the intention is to continue with the noninterference policy which seem to serve the omanis very very well especially in the current context in which you have no divisions within the gulf and oman and kuwait very much taking the position that they want to be sort of independents to be sort of the people that both sides can come to and as your previous contributors have also pointed out this is also reflected in the fact that you know the what the nuclear deal which the americans have since walked away from in the case of iran you know the start of that was very much you know helped by oman hosting the talks between the iranians and the americans right and coming back now to hooshang in muscat and the sultan cover this and he had a huge amount of power didnt he he was not only the sultan the head of state he was the finance minister he was the Prime Minister he was the foreign minister and he was in charge of the armed forces he also spent an awful lot of time outside of the country because of his poor health how did the country run it with these great periods of absence. Obviously its fascinating but you say. Despite all of those responsibilities and the quite a long period of time absent from the country and everything continue to rant to be drawn the smoothly it means that he was able to get his cronies obviously he was able to put in place the institutions as saudi d. N. A. Off to continue working despite his absence and also because of the hes presence even in absence his presence in the country is there was no of a real issue during the year in his absence so this is why i said if you go back to those 2 goes yes although the people that bit anxious to know whats going on in terms of his 10th but nevertheless better space was deaf and they did their country a year continue to work very very no one would be so contrary to the situation in some other countries in the region where the number of the there there are hated by the if you put under people are looking for opportunity to or overthrow him and he was absent and Nothing Happened precisely because of the respect because of the dollars of his people and he was somebody who had a very clear vision field for his country and for the region and consequently he was a bit to put to very. Capable people around him. Members of the cabinet and also those elected in majesty showed a measure to do it and so forth and consequently hes absence didnt have any real impact on the day the functioning of the country. Right luciano. Many people whove been around the region who visited her mom will be immediately struck when they the difference of the tone and the feel of the country it also relies upon oil and gas exports for its financing but it doesnt have the sleek skyscrapers that we can see behind you. In other parts of the gulf its got a completely different view can you explain this culturally why that is why it doesnt feel like the rest of the gulf. Well its interesting because if if you discuss with experts in the in the g. C. C. Condors of course they said that the money is maybe the most genuine. Preserve a lot of faith tradition. Even though it became a modern country did not change the identity of the country this basically is from that because of the nature of the society their Money Society and also because the lack of resources that compare with other distaste made all month to move towards more than at the followin more the path toward this way of building. Construction see this in a way that we can see in qatar in minutes or even saudi arabia or kuwait im not sure because i mean that i said the tradition the traditional way of life in common was preserved by the people the way of living of the money people is much more calmer than the other g. States and this can be that can also explain their way in which our money is behaving again that are stronger level its people that they enjoy much more. They are not involved for instance in the sectarian tension that exists between this one and shia in the whole region they have their own way of interpreting islam which is about this and that made them make it makes them to be more absent of all the tension that has been raised in the region lately and guy i think were getting a picture of a man as being a place that is heaven on earth but its not completely that is it because its had its own brush with conflict within the country i mean 2011 when the region was grappling with the what was known as the arab spring it had its own incident didnt it. Yes i mean they were not as intense or as sustained as they were in other parts of the region but its shows that what was happening in oman in 2011 was similar to whats happening in the rest of the rest of the arab world and the gulf as well i mean as your previous contributors pointed out you know oman didnt doesnt have the same level of Hydrocarbon Resources as the other parts of the gulf and so for that reason it had to start looking at diversifying its economy a lot earlier then than those other countries it started look at doing that and are in the mid 1990 s. However the pace of that wasnt fast enough and obviously its not created sufficient numbers of jobs in other sectors and especially for the young which is why then you had those protests taking place in 2011 and actually a couple that took place at the start of 2018 as well so its not completely smooth smooth running for for the authorities in oman and certainly you know the new sultan is also going to face that challenge of how do we diversify how do we ensure that oman is able to have sustained and sustained growth and to be able to make her you know improvements for its people right in hooshang and weve already heard the 1st words from the new Sultan Sultan hey salman hes promised continuity is the main deliverable if you like. Does he have the vision the vision of 2040 as he was part of that committee and what does that that vision dont like. Bob as i said earlier i believe that the new sultan is continues going to continue this same day i was talking about was that used to work for the country this is why you. He hes nomination or his appointment. Received very. Very glad the happy by the people. In terms of his experience again hes a very experienced man bit of a vet as you stated and consequently he was around this time what was for the has for many many years so we know the war then you have somebody who is a source of aspiration. A bill to transmit to his colleagues that division he is so it would be very easy for the authors to convey to continue this same way and i guess if you have 2220. 00 to shine is it do we know whether the new sultan is going to amass the same level of power and control as cell phone companies. Its very difficult to to to say that at this very early stage but what is important is really even after under sotomayor was to be chinas seat theyre very incremental moving in the direction all for more organise more democracy zation so this is why for example if. Very free and Fair Election that the municipality havent recently added demand to so short a concept that the parliament and the and so forth so it means that there is a deposit is almost there ready to to continue and consequently i believe that says they found these to simply continue to do what was a started because contrary to some other countries where you see eruption between the old and then you hear. Diddys question of continued he rather than stopping shifting changing that drastically decision and the being in charge of vision 2040 which is basically. To diversify the economy gives him a lot of in sight to the function of of the mission area of the system and that consequently he is that one i believe who china and who is able to to continue to improve the situation and whatever was started earlier right down to the news the sad news of the passing of Sultan Qaboos came in the early hours local time in this region it was just a matter of hours with before his replacement was announced you see that theres anything to come into him with regard to the swiftness with which his successor was named and sworn in. Well to be honest there were some rumors circulating on the internet he may have been died a couple of days ago i mean it will be difficult due to to say that this happen and they were covering this until until now to make sure the appointment was done without any any rejection or any any controversy but i do say was announced very sharply it was announced as a successor. In the Current Situation in which we are in the whole region the lack of i mean or certainty about who is going to rule or who was going to rule on monday was something that nobody wanted and they made sure that everybody accepted and everybody. Realized that there was a current. Ruler really in the country immediately after the demise of of have been always been in the economy and borrow meant the discussion about how the. Succession will affect they continue to have their current stay the unity of the country its there to that and now we are newberry but the situation. With the confrontation between iran and United States and i assume that have been pointed out. Has been appointed barrie without any controversy or any rejection from anybody within the political establishment it is a good news with guarantee a smooth transition we docs a patient of all day all the money is right so guy given given that what has just said the speed and the efficiency if you like of the transition can we therefore expect that this era of discrete diplomacy will continue. Well i mean thats the plan i mean certainly you know its been very made clear to try and get a succession that was on you know undisputed unquestioned which is actually in contrast to what a lot of people assumed before the you know sultan cabooses passing that there was an assumption that it was actually going to be a lot more fraught than it is now the big question of course is you know is the new sultan going to be able to consolidate his position but even if he does that domestically i mean the the big challenge though man faces there is that it is in a region which is quite volatile so it is going to be buffeted around that is not a country that is particularly strong but it has has a particular degree of independence in terms of its resources and patronage in the region so you know its Foreign Policy and its approach to take it to taking this independent route is a way of trying to you know stand apart a little bit and to ensure that it isnt affected by by wider regional turbulence right and coming back to muscat and to hooshang it seems very much as a cell turned could this is 1st priority on taking over in 170 was this undertaking to modernize the country what needs to be the 1st priority then for the new Sultan Sultan haith an. I believe they did their men tried in for the new assault and hes that economy situation the price of oil hes not what hes used to be a mon is a country the majority countries in the region that dependent on toward revenue and consequently desisted this is his challenge breath as my quote information there we have as no money started to diversify its economy some time ago and i believe it continuous to to do so already we can see for example going to say fear of tourism be. A big move if he changed so luciano do you think therefore that given this promise and this emphasis if you like and called to duty do you expect therefore that to muscat oman is likely to be the location of choice for any kind of back channel negotiations that are going to take place we would hope especially when it comes to iran and the us. Well as i said before and i was remarking in the whole show is that the couple was worse impressed in his own personal way of doing politics and Foreign Policy their way in which a man was mediating between a different continent on the way. It was like i was a kept. Aside of any of the big dangers of the day exists in the region makes difficult to believe that hyphen will be able to do exactly the same of course i believe i will try in his best to keep having this media tour role but of course we need to see how hes behaving personally because it was much more late in the way in which. I was impressed in his. Diplomatic style the same as we have to say about the undone all politics i mean there are many challenges for high sums to keep the same kind of internal e. G. Di masi keeping the country united and mainly since. I mentioned that the i mean there were some most the words democratization in the last since it was also 11 because a word the month for that but the steps were barely mine or so the next. Current. Improve a little bit more because it might be that have in mind that the the current has done its a still in the way of getting his legitimacy from the population he would need to address some of this demands for more opening or more than the other station in the electoral process for instance in the in the short our council right guy giving the final word to you if you could be brief please we had an indication really of the economic problems that are there and certainly on the horizon presumably job creation is going to be one of the most pressing problems for the new sultan and thats got to form part of his diversification program. Yeah absolutely and one of the big things which we havent talked about yet is the the the construction of the door comports in the special Economic Zone which are about 34 years ago got funding from from china in the asian investments Infrastructure Bank of around 265000000 the intention is that in a couple of years time thats going to open up in india in Industrial Park an enabler a number of different sort of businesses and opportunities there so its going to be one to watch especially when we think about the role of china in the middle east and whether thats going to be influenced by its entry into oman great stuff thank you all very much indeed who chang has an uri in muscat lucianos a car here in doha and guy there in brussels thank you all very much indeed and as ever thank you for watching the program you can see it again any time you like by going to the web site al jazeera dot com you should know by now and if you want more discussion you can get to our Facebook Page facebook dot com forward slash a. J. Inside story theres a twist as fair as well i handle at a. J. Inside story im at Latina Dennis so for me and the whole team here in denver its by frank. For the congolese the journey to was all the more means unimaginable hardship i prefer to lie down because they knew i got the cock into chancing life and live on a dangerous journey through the jungle i fell onto the rails for i merely died. Our children go to school and live because of a prank risking it all the democratic republic of congo on aljazeera. Does iraq explores prominent figures of the 20th century and how why the reason influenced the course of history beginning with the giants of the struggle for civil rights the amount of no longer just that theyve lost over one failed to oppress look again and continue to keep the negroes to be defensive thats what you mean by that about malcolm x. And Martin Luther king face to face on 00. Trouble began at the end of the countrys civil war when most people started returning home from refugee camps. Am or more who are strapped and killed during a demonstration in 2017 is buried right here in the middle of the street as a sign of resistance to the Mining Companies and government just setting you this time the accusations someone used and displacement between the community the Mining Companies and the government has now escalated to west africas Regional Court the community has taken its case before west africas Regional Court because they say the people have little for use in the justice system. Oh and the clock and the top stories here on aljazeera libyan war not only for half the has agreed to a cease fire thats just taking effect in libya thats despite previously refusing to have his forces put down arms in april have to launch an offensive on the capital city to the u. N. Back up my mood up a wide has more on the ceasefire from tripoli will most probably just because of the amount of pressure put on hafter by his regional and International Allies the United Arab Emirates egypt and russia have to allies after todays meeting between the russian president Vladimir Putin and the german chancellor Angela Merkel in mosco and their call for an immediate cease fire in tripoli
vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.