A day after a wave of Arab protests washed up on the shores of the sleepy Gulf state of Oman, Sultan Qaboos bin Said al-Said rushed in a raft of pledges.
As protesters flowed into a central roundabout in the northern city of Sohar, in an attempt to emulate their Bahraini neighbours’ in Manama and Cairo’s protest centre of Tahrir Square, the sultan promised 50,000 new jobs and $400 a month in unemployment benefits.
The Omani sultan of 40 years thus joined the growing group of anxious Arab leaders scrambling to placate a frustrated youth with financial handouts and economic promises. He was following Kuwait and, most dramatically, Saudi Arabia, which last week announced a $36bn package of housing loans, unemployment benefits and pay rises.
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