Oman has named Haitham bin Tariq Al Said as the country’s new ruler following the death of his cousin Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, according to Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Muscat.
The former culture minister has been sworn in before the ruling family council on Saturday, local media outlets al-Watan and al-Roya reported.
صاحب الجلالة السلطان #هيثم_بن_طارق بن تيمور آل سعيد – حفظه الله – يؤدي القسم سلطانا للبلاد وفقًا لنص المادة السابعة من النظام الأساسي للدولة، وذلك إثر انعقاد مجلس العائلة المالكة وتقريره تثبيت من أوصى به جلالة السلطان #قابوس_بن_سعيد – طيب الله ثراه – عرفانا وامتنانا وتقديرا له. pic.twitter.com/pVOC7JVr3i
— التواصل الحكومي (@Oman_GC) January 11, 2020
#BREAKING Haitham bin Tariq, cousin of late Oman sultan, appointed new ruler: reports pic.twitter.com/cuH230n9Jb
— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 11, 2020
Biography
Haitham bin Tariq is a member of the Al Said Omani royal family and a 1979 graduate of the Oxford University Foreign Service Programme (FSP), his post graduate studies under the aegis of Pembroke College, with living quarters being provided by the then HQ of the FSP and located at Queen Elizabeth House, at 21 St.Giles, Oxford.
He was the first head of the Oman Football Association in the early 1980s and is described as a sports enthusiast. He served as the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Political Affairs from 1986 to 1994, and later appointed as the Secretary General for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1994–2002). He was later appointed as the Minister of Heritage and Culture in the mid 1990s.
After the death of his cousin Sultan Qaboos on 10 January 2020, Haitham bin Tariq succeeded him as Sultan of Oman the next day after taking an oath before an emergency session of the Council of Oman in Al-Bustan. – Wikipedia
