World leaders in Oman to pay homage after death of Sultan

MUSCAT: Prince Charles of Britain and Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined regional leaders in Oman on Sunday to offer their condolences to the royal family following the death of long-ruling Sultan Qaboos.

A ceremony at the Alam Palace in Muscat attracted people from across Middle East internal divisions, including Crown Prince Abu Dhabi’s Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed and Emir Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani from Qatar.

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Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Tunisian president Kais Saied, Kuwait’s Emir Sheik Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and Yemeni president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi were among those who met with the new sultan.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy also attended the ceremony, which took place one day after the selection and swearing-in of the new royal ruler Haitham bin Tariq. Haitham is a cousin of Qaboos, who, at the age of 79, never married and died on Friday without an apparent heir.

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It was the neutrality and non-interference stance of Sultan Qaboos that enhanced Oman’s status as a “Switzerland of the Middle East” and won him recognition in the region and even beyond.