Miscellaneous

Haitham bin Tariq named new Oman Sultan: report

Oman’s Defence Council has announced that Haitham bin Tariq Al Said will succeed His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, who died on Friday, as ruler of Oman.
 
65-year-old Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, a cousin of Sultan Qaboos, has served the country as heritage and culture minister since the mid-1990s. He was previously undersecretary of the ministry of foreign affairs for political affairs and also the first head of Oman’s football federation in the early 1980s.
 
He has often chaired cabinet meetings and is well known and respected among Omani citizens.
 
The death of Sultan Qaboos was announced on Saturday morning. He was 79 years old and had ruled Oman for almost 50 years. 
 
A three-day period of official mourning for the public and private sectors had been declared, state media said. 
 
The Sultan took over the reigns in 1970 and using its oil wealth, he then set Oman on a path to development.
 
According to the sultanate's Basic Statute, the Royal Family Council - comprising about 50 male members - should choose a new sultan within three days of the throne falling vacant.
 
If the family cannot agree, members of the defence council and the chairmen of the Supreme Court, the Consultative Council and the State Council will open a sealed envelope in which Sultan Qaboos secretly recorded his choice and enthrone that person.
 
The sultan is the paramount decision-maker in Oman and also holds the positions of prime minister, supreme commander of the armed forces, minister of defence, minister of finance and minister of foreign affairs.