The 1970 Coup in Oman Reconsidered

Abstract

This article offers the first detailed archivally based account of the 23 July 1970 coup in Oman. Relying on a range of previously unseen and officially suppressed documents, it shows that the republican revolutionary action provided the short-term and long-term causes behind the coup that removed Sultān Saʿīd bin Taymūr and enthroned his son Qabūs. Against the orthodoxy claiming that the 1970 coup was initiated by Qabūs, this article shows that it was planned and implemented by the British Foreign Office with the hesitant approval of the Ministry of Defence. A false version of events was propagated so as to protect British interests and to ensure a greater degree of legitimation for the new autocratic regime.

Keywords:

• coups
• Oman
• Gulf
• Ḍufār
• revolution
• state formation
• British colonial policy
• Sultān Qabūs
• Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf

Notes

¹ “Letter of Ascension of Sa'id Bin Taymur” reprinted in Peterson, Oman in the Twentieth Century (1978), p. 224.

² Biscoe (PR, Bushire) to Foreign Sec., Govt of India (New Delhi), 26 Mar. 1938, in Bailey (ed.), Records of Oman 1867–1947, vol. 3 (1992), p. 459.

³ CBFG to RAF Ṣalāla., 24 Jul. 1970, DEFE 71/374, The National Archive [TNA hereafter], London; Edes (Arabian Dept, London), “Coup in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman”, 23 Jul. 1970, reprinted in Burdett (ed.), Records of Oman 1966–1971, vol. 5 (2003), p. 89.

⁴ Discussions of the coup abound in the literature. Some of these feature valuable assessments and utilise circumstantial evidence to support their respective arguments. However, the archival record has hitherto not been cited, and there is no thorough outline detailing the vicissitudes of the political process that underpinned the British planning and implementation of the coup. Works in which the coup is discussed include: Al-Amri, Thufar: Al-Thawra fil Tarikh al-Omani al Muʾuasir (2005); Allen and Rigsbee, Oman Under Qabūs: From Coup to Constitution, 1970–1996 (2002); Al-Rayyes, ʿThufar: Al-Siraʾ al-Siyassi wal Askari fil Khaleej al-Arabi, 1970–1976 (2002); Halliday, Arabia Without Sultans (1999); Owtram, A Modern History of Oman (2004); Peterson, Oman's Insurgencies: The Sultanate's Struggle for Supremacy (2007); Seif and Saad, “Interview on the Political Situation in Oman and Dhofar”, New Left Review I/66 (1971); Trabulsi, Thufar: Shahada min Zaman al-Thawra (2004); and Valeri, Oman: Politics and Society in the Qabūs State (2009).

⁵ “Muscat: Annual Review 1967”, 5 Jan. 1968, FO 1016/790, TNA, London.

⁶ Graham, Brigadier John, Graham Diaries, 20 Oct. 1972, in Personal Papers (GB165-0327), Middle East Centre Archive, Oxford.

⁷ In contrast, Britain was widely criticised in Muscat society. See Innes, Minister in Oman: A Personal Narrative (1987), p. 204.

⁸ This is reflected in the private papers of the Anti-Slavery Society, which detail the extensive correspondences with the British Government over Muscat and Oman conducted throughout the 1960s. See Anti-Slavery Assoc. Papers: G958, G959 and G959a, Rhodes House Library, Oxford.

⁹ Burrows (PR, Bahrain) to Marquess of Salisbury (Sec. of State for Foreign Affairs, London), 8 Sept. 1953, CO 1015/695, TNA, London.

¹⁰ Carden (Con-Gen, Muscat), “Amnesty International”, 21 Jun. 1969, FO 1016/806, TNA, London.

¹¹ For the launch of the struggle see Thufar, “Bayan I'lan al Kifah al Mussalah”, 9 Jun. 1965, in Al-Jabha al-Sha'biya li Tahreer Oman, Wathaiq al Nidal al Watani: 1965–1974 (1974), p. 9.

¹² For a detailed account see Takriti, Monsoon Revolution: Republicans, Sultans, and Empires in Oman, 1965–76 (2013).

¹³ Crawford (Con-Gen, Muscat) to Weir (Pol. Residency, Bahrain), 30 Oct. 1969, reprinted in Records of Oman 1966–1971, vol. 4, p. 226.

¹⁴ “The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, HMG's Policy”, 25 Feb. 1970, DEFE 24/1867, TNA, London.

¹⁵ Ibid.

¹⁶ Ibid.

¹⁷ Ibid.

¹⁸ Michael Stewart (Foreign Sec., London) to Defence Sec., London, 15 Apr. 1970, DEFE 24/1855, TNA, London.

¹⁹ “The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, Steering Brief for Review, Annex E”, reprinted in Records of Oman 1966–1971, vol. 5, pp. 399–400.

²⁰ “Oman: Annual Review, 2–4 May 1970”, FCO 8/1669, TNA, London.

²¹ “Discussions with the Sultan”, 12 May 1970, reprinted in Records of Oman 1966–1971, vol. 5, p. 690.

²² Al-Ikri, Al-Tanthimat al-Yassariya fil Jazeera wal Khaleej al- ʿArabi (2003), p. 83.

²³ Al-Nuaimi, “Al Nuhud al-Qawmi wal Watani Baʾda Hazimat Yuniou”, Al-Dimuqrati 30 (2006) and “Tarjamat Qararat al-Mutamar al-Tawheedi”, Al-Wasat, 1 Jan. 2009.

²⁴ The discussions around the PRM and its need to change course are reported in “Taqreer ʿAn al ʿHiwar Bayna ʿHizb al ʿAmal al-ʿArabi fi ʿOman wal ʿHaraka al-Thawria al-Shaʾabiya fi ʿOman wl Khaleej al-ʿArabi”, May 1971, private papers of Mohammad Jamal Barut (unpublished).

²⁵ “The National Democratic Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arabian Gulf, A Branch of the People's Revolutionary Movement”, Intelligence Department, Sultan's Armed Forces, 3 Mar. 1971, Graham Personal Papers (GB165-0327), Middle East Centre Archive, St Antony's College, University of Oxford.

²⁶ Muscat to Bahrain, telegram no. 235, 13 Jun. 1970, reprinted in Records of Oman 1966–1971, vol. 5, p. 356.

²⁷ “Security Situation in Oman”, 15 Jun. 1970, reprinted in Records of Oman 1966–1971, vol. 5, p. 357 and Graham, “The National Democratic”, Graham Personal Papers (GB165-0327), Middle East Centre Archive, St Antony's College, University of Oxford.

²⁸ Graham, Ponder Anew: Reflections on the Twentieth Century (1999), p. 328.

²⁹ Ibid., p. 324.

³⁰ Muscat to Bahrain, telegram no. 241, 18 Jun. 1970, reprinted in Records of Oman 1966–1971, vol. 5, p. 361.

³¹ The Consul-General refers to this despatch in his letter to M.S. Baker-Bates of the Foreign Office's UN (E&S) Dept., 21 Jun. 1970, reprinted in Records of Oman 1966–1971, vol. 5, p. 1004.

³² “Security Situation in Oman”, 17 Jun. 1970, reprinted in Records of Oman 1966–1971, vol. 5, pp. 359–60.

³³ Ibid.

³⁴ Acland (Arabian Dept., London), “The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman: Possibility of a Coup”, DEFE 24/1855, TNA, London.

³⁵ CBFG to MOD, London, 26 Jun. 1970, DEFE 24/1855, TNA, London.

³⁶ Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, “Junior Term, September 1960”, The Wish Stream: Journal of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst 15.1 (1961), pp. 64–7. See also Beasant and Ling, Sultan in Arabia: A Private Life (2004), p. 45.

³⁷ Barber, “Obituary: Brigadier Tim Landon”, The Guardian, 28 Aug. 2007; Anon., “Brigadier Tim Landon”, The Telegraph, 12 Jul. 2007.

³⁸ “Chiefs of Staff Meeting, Wednesday 15th Jul. 1970”, DMO brief no. 42/70 (Ministry of Defence, Army Dept.), 14 Jul. 1970, DEFE 24/1856, TNA, London.

³⁹ CBFG to MOD, London, 26 Jun. 1970, DEFE 24/1855, TNA, London.

⁴⁰ Ibid.

⁴¹ Gibbon (Head of DS11) to Defence Sec. of State, 8 Jul. 1970, DEFE 24/1856, TNA, London.

⁴² “Chiefs of Staff Meeting, Wednesday 15th Jul. 1970”, DMO brief no. 42/70 (Army Dept., Ministry of Defence), 14 Jul. 1970, DEFE 24/1856, TNA, London.

⁴³ Crawford (Con-Gen, Muscat) to Acland (Arabian Dept., London), 8 Jul. 1970, DEFE 24/1856, TNA, London.

⁴⁴ Ibid.

⁴⁵ Ibid.

⁴⁶ Acland (Arabian Dept., London), “The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman: Possibility of a Coup”, 8 Jul. 1970, DEFE 24/1856, TNA, London.

⁴⁷ Gibbon (Head of DS11) to Defence Sec. of State, 8 Jul. 1970, DEFE 24/1856, TNA, London.

⁴⁸ Ibid.

⁴⁹ Ibid.

⁵⁰ Ibid.

⁵¹ Ibid.

⁵² Ibid.

⁵³ CBFG to Chief of Defence Staff, 8 Jul. 1970, DEFE 24/1856, TNA, London.

⁵⁴ “Chiefs of Staff Meeting, Wednesday 15th Jul. 1970”, DMO brief no. 42/70 (Army Department, Ministry of Defence), 14 Jul. 1970, DEFE 24/1856, TNA, London.

⁵⁵ Acting Chief of Defence Staff to Sec. of State for Defence, London, 16 Jul. 1970, DEFE 24/1856, TNA, London.

⁵⁶ Weir, Michael Scott Weir, 1925–2006: Unfinished Memoires (unpublished), p. 97.

⁵⁷ “Qabūs’ Imminent Bid for Power in Muscat and Oman”, Addendum to DMO brief no. 42/70, 15 Jul. 1970, DEFE 24/1856, TNA, London.

⁵⁸ “Chiefs of Staff Meeting, Wednesday 15th Jul. 1970”, DMO brief no. 42/70 (Army Dept., Ministry of Defence), 14 Jul. 1970, DEFE 24/1856, TNA, London.

⁵⁹ Acting Chief of Defence Staff to Sec. of State for Defence, London, 16 Jul. 1970, DEFE 24/1856, TNA, London.

⁶⁰ Ibid.

⁶¹ Private Sec. of the Minister of State to PSO/CDS, London, 16 Jul. 1970, DEFE 24/1856, TNA, London.

⁶² Weir, Memoires, p. 98.

⁶³ “Sir Alec Up the Gulf”, The Economist, 18 Jul. 1970, p. 15.

⁶⁴ Hamood, Political and Economic Development in Oman with Specific Reference to the Reign of Sultan Qabūs, MLitt diss. (1989), p. 62.

⁶⁵ “Document”, BBC Radio 4, 23 Nov. 2009, 8:00 pm.

⁶⁶ Graham, Ponder Anew, p. 333.

⁶⁷ Ibid.

⁶⁸ Ibid., p. 334.

⁶⁹ RAF Ṣalāla to HQ BFG, 23 Jul. 1970, DEFE 71/374, TNA, London.

⁷⁰ CBFG to RAF Ṣalāla, 23 Jul. 1970, DEFE 71/374, TNA, London.

⁷¹ Peterson, Oman's Insurgencies: The Sultanate's Struggle for Supremacy (2007), p. 240, fn. 2.

⁷² Graham, Ponder Anew, p. 331.

⁷³ Ibid., p. 478. In one account, Saʿīd Salem and the eleven men that invaded the palace with him are presented as belonging to the Northern Frontier Regiment [See Peterson, Oman's Insurgencies, p. 240, fn. 1]. In fact, as Graham notes, Saʿīd Salem had moved from the NFR to the DR in 1967, and the eleven soldiers that accompanied him were also from the DR.

⁷⁴ Graham, Graham Diaries, 14 May 1972, Graham Personal Papers (GB165-0327), Middle East Centre Archive, St Antony's College, University of Oxford.

⁷⁵ Graham, Ponder Anew, p. 334.

⁷⁶ Peterson, Oman's Insurgencies, p. 240, fn. 2.

⁷⁷ Graham, Ponder Anew, p. 334.

⁷⁸ RAF Ṣalāla to BFG, 23 Jul. 1970, DEFE 71/374, TNA, London.

⁷⁹ Graham, Ponder Anew, p. 335.

⁸⁰ Ibid., p. 336.

⁸¹ Edes (Arabian Dept., London), “Coup in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman”, 23 Jul. 1970, reprinted in Records of Oman 1966–1971, vol. 5, p. 89.

⁸² England (Defence Staff), “Former Sultan of Muscat and Oman”, 25 Aug. 1970, reprinted in Records of Oman 1966–1971, vol. 5, p. 80.

⁸³ Graham, Graham Diaries, 20 Oct. 1972 in Personal Papers (GB165-0327), Middle East Centre Archive, Oxford.