Omani internal situation

This file concerns the internal situation in Muscat and Oman. It contains summaries, notes, correspondence and memoranda on:

• The question of what Qaboos Bin Saeed should do in the event of his father’s death
• The increasing threat to Dhofar
• HMG’s efforts to encourage the Sultan of Muscat and Oman Saeed Bin Taimur to make more rapid progress with development in Dhofar
• Cuttings in the Sun and Financial Times, stating that British led forces were accused in the Soviet newspaper Pravda of using napalm and torture against the rebels in Muscat and Oman; and a cutting in the Financial Times, ‘UK denies Muscat, Oman napalm report’, 30 September 1969
• The threat to the present stability of Oman
• The question of whether Petroleum Development (Oman) Limited would survive if the Sultan were overthrown
• HMG’s intention to withdraw from the Gulf in 1971; and HMG’s decision to continue operating the RAF station on Masirah Island and the airfield at Salalah after Britain’s withdrawal
• Muscat and Oman’s economic and social development
• A cutting in the Economist, ‘Muscat and Oman: All run by radio-telephone’, 28 June 1969
• A conversation between the Consul-General in Muscat D G Crawford and Sheikh Ahmad Bin Mohammad Al Harithi, regarding reforms in Muscat and Oman
• A valedictory despatch by D C Carden on Muscat and Oman’s internal situation
• Crawford’s coastal trip from Sur to Sohar in October 1969
• British influence in Muscat and Oman
• Crawford’s meeting with the Sultan on 28 October 1969
• A cutting in the Washington Post, concerning the Sultan’s refusal to accept a hospital gifted to him by the Ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan
• Crawford’s visit to Buraimi in November 1969
• A cutting in the Daily Telegraph, concerning a battle that will take place between ‘the forces of the Wali of Dibba’ and the ‘armed followers of the Wali of a mountain village’ near Dibba, 27 November 1969.