Oman

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Country at the southeastern end of the Arabian peninsula, bounded west by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, southeast by the Arabian Sea, and northeast by the Gulf of Oman.

Government
Oman has no written constitution, and the hereditary sultan has absolute power, ruling by decree as head of state and government. There is no legislature and no political parties, but the sultan takes advice from an appointed cabinet and a 83-member consultative council, the Majlis al-Shura, elected since 2003, which reviews drafts of economic and social legislation, and a Council of State (Majlis al-Dawla), comprising 41 appointed members. Since 1994 women have been allowed to become members of parliament.

History
For early history, see Arabia. The city of Muscat has long been a trading post and the region was part of the Persian empire between the 6th and 3rd centuries BC. Arab dominance was established from the 7th century AD and Islam spread. The country was in Portugal's possession from 1508 until it was taken by the Ottomans in 1659. The Ottomans were driven out in 1741 by Ahmad ibn Said who established the present line of sultans. By the early 19th century, the state of Muscat and Oman was the most powerful in Arabiam but it lost Zanzibar in 1861 and also coastal parts of Persia and Pakistan, and became a British protectorate in 1891.

Independent sultanate
In 1951 it became the independent Sultanate of Muscat and Oman and signed a treaty of friendship with Britain. Said bin Taimur, who had been sultan since 1932, was overthrown by his son, Qaboos bin Said, in a bloodless coup in 1970, and the country was renamed the Sultanate of Oman. Qaboos embarked on a more liberal and expansionist policy than his father and the economic situation improved, following discovery of oil, in the mid-1960s. But the Marxist-dominated Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman fought to overthrow the sultanate from 1965, following a secessionist revolt in Dhofar province. Sultan Qaboos built up the armed forces and had defeated the Dhofar insurgency by the mid-1970s.

Conflicts in nearby countries, such as Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, have not only emphasized the country's strategic importance but put its own security at risk. The sultan has tried to follow a path of non-alignment, but since 1980 Oman has had a military cooperation agreement with the USA, and in 1991, as part of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Oman troops fought in Operation Desert Storm against Iraqi troops occupying Kuwait. In 2001 US forces used military bases in Oman for its raids against Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden.

Known as ‘white sun in blue sky’, the flag of Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Zhong Shan appears in the canton. The rays of the sun represent 12 traditional Chinese hours (each equalling two hours) symbolizing progress. Red is a traditional Chinese colour. Effective date: 8 October 1928. >>