Oman’s ruler replaced three top government officials on Saturday, a second major shakeup that was celebrated by some protesters but failed to quell more than a week of widening demonstrations calling for jobs and political reforms in this strategically important nation.
The shakeup included the head of the Palace Office, which oversees security affairs, in an apparent attempt to ease calls to hold officials accountable for the killing of a protester late last month.
Also replaced was a minister who holds the most senior adviser post and another who deals with internal matters within the ruling structure.
Photo: EPA
The measures failed to halt sit-ins in the capital, Muscat, and the northern industrial city of Sohar, where the unrest began, but they were welcomed by many protesters.
“It was as if a black cloud has lifted. Long live the sultan, long live Oman,” said Saeed Hamad, a protester outside the Sultanate’s Shura council.
It was the second top-level shakeup that Sultan Qaboos bin Said has ordered in the tightly controlled Arabian Peninsula nation. Two weeks ago, he replaced six other Cabinet ministers. He later promised 50,000 new civil service jobs and offered a monthly stipend of 150 rials (US$390) for job seekers.
Oman, ruled by a powerful family dynasty, is the latest Arab nation to be swept up in a wave of turmoil that has already brought down two leaders.
Oman’s unrest remains small compared with Persian Gulf neighbor Bahrain, but it is closely watched because of the country’s strategic role as co-guardian of the Strait of Hormuz. Oman and Iran share authority over the crucial waterway at the mouth of the Gulf, which is the route for 40 percent of the world’s oil tanker traffic.
Groups of protesters are staging sit-ins around the country to press for economic reforms and investigations to hold officials accountable for attacks on demonstrators. Oil workers in southern Oman were the latest to join the protests.
Police killed one protester in the port town of Sohar, about 200km northwest of Muscat, on Feb. 26 after demonstrations turned violent.
In Haima, a key oil region about 500km southwest of the capital, oil workers staged a work stoppage to demand more state investments in the area, government officials said. The workers met with a senior -envoy from the Omani oil ministry.
BAHRAIN
Meanwhile, thousands of Bahrainis massed yesterday at al-Qudaibiya Palace, where Bahrain’s Cabinet meets, chanting slogans against the tiny Gulf state’s government and King Hamad.
White-helmeted police with riot shields stood behind one gate, looking on as the flag-waving demonstrators chanted “Topple Hamad! Topple Hamad!”
Protesters also chanted for the 2002 Constitution, which they say gave too much power to the monarchy, to be scrapped.
This came a day after thousands of Shiite protesters formed a huge human chain around the capital, as their campaign to loosen the Sunni monarchy’s grip on power in the Gulf nation entered its third week.
No police were in sight on Saturday as protesters — men and women — held hands to encircle Manama, where the country’s Shiite majority has been leading daily demonstrations to end what they say are discriminatory policies and political persecution.
Organizers said some members of the Sunni minority joined Saturday’s event.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of