Breakingviews - Sultan Qaboos’ legacy of peace looks safe for now - Reuters:
Omani Sultan Qaboos is gone, but his legacy of peace lives on. The Gulf’s longest-serving ruler, in power for half a century, finally succumbed to illness late on Friday. That the iconic leader’s reign would soon end was expected. More surprising has been what appears to be a smooth succession.
Qaboos deserves the eulogies bestowed on him on Saturday from less enduring regional leaders in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Iran. As they feuded and exchanged threats during his rule, the sultan managed to stay on cordial terms with them all, and major western powers to boot. That gave him a platform to reform a country that in 1970 - when he seized power by deposing his own father in a bloodless coup assisted by British spies - had only one primary school, one medical clinic, and no tarmac road connecting its only international airport to the capital Muscat.
Qaboos did it by unifying his own realm, improving its infrastructure and status as a tourist destination, and making his subjects richer. But he hadn’t publicly anointed a successor. The
Omani Sultan Qaboos is gone, but his legacy of peace lives on. The Gulf’s longest-serving ruler, in power for half a century, finally succumbed to illness late on Friday. That the iconic leader’s reign would soon end was expected. More surprising has been what appears to be a smooth succession.
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| A painting of Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said is seen on a building in Muscat, Oman, January 11, 2020. REUTERS/Christopher Pike |
Qaboos deserves the eulogies bestowed on him on Saturday from less enduring regional leaders in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Iran. As they feuded and exchanged threats during his rule, the sultan managed to stay on cordial terms with them all, and major western powers to boot. That gave him a platform to reform a country that in 1970 - when he seized power by deposing his own father in a bloodless coup assisted by British spies - had only one primary school, one medical clinic, and no tarmac road connecting its only international airport to the capital Muscat.
Qaboos did it by unifying his own realm, improving its infrastructure and status as a tourist destination, and making his subjects richer. But he hadn’t publicly anointed a successor. The
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