Oman
Country at the SE end of the Arabian peninsula, bounded W by the United
Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, SE by the Arabian Sea,
and NE by the Gulf of Oman.
Government
Oman has no written constitution, and the sultan has absolute power,
ruling by decree. There is no legislature, but the sultan takes
advice from an appointed cabinet. There is also a consultative
council, the Majlis Al-Shoura, of 59 nominated members.
History
In 1951 it became the independent Sultanate of Muscat and Oman and
signed a treaty of friendship with Britain. Said bin Taimur, who
had been sultan since 1932, was overthrown by his son, Qaboos
bin Said, in a bloodless coup 1970, and the country was renamed
the Sultanate of Oman. Qaboos embarked on a more liberal and expansionist
policy than his father. The Popular Front for the Liberation of
Oman has been fighting to overthrow the sultanate since 1965.
Oman's wealth is based on a few oilfields, discovered in the
mid- 1960s. Conflicts in nearby countries, such as Yemen, Iran,
Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, have not only emphasized the country's
strategic importance but put its own security at risk. The sultan
has tried to follow a path of nonalignment, while maintaining
close ties with the USA and other countries of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization. In 1991, as part of the Gulf Cooperation
Council, Oman troops fought in Operation Desert Storm against
Iraqi troops occupying Kuwait. In 1994 the government announced
that women would be allowed to become members of parliament, making
Oman the first Gulf state to propose awarding senior political
posts to women.
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