Oman – end of an era

Sultan Qaboos, the Arab world’s longest serving leader has died. Educated in England and Sandhurst he returned to house arrest under his father’s mediaeval rule in 1966 and subsequently overthrew him in a bloodless coup. He then brought in a policy of modernization, oversaw a rise in living standards and development in the country, unified a previously divided nation and ended Oman’s international isolation. He also turned Oman into a diplomatic bridge that navigated a neutral