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.
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