Oman: Patience with our neighbors running out
Oman has warned the United Arab Emirates against continued “theft” of its intellectual property and national heritage.
Deputy Chairman of the Public Authority for Craft Industries of Oman Issam Bin Ali Al-rawas warned that his country’s patience with its neighbors is waning in reference to the United Arab Emirates which has recently targeted the sultanate with attempts to falsify Omani history.
“The Sultan of Oman, Qaboos Bin Said, has documents which if he decided to reveal we will not need all this uproar, but he is practicing the policy of calm internally and externally,” he told the local Al-wisal radio station, Middle East Monitor reported.
“Sultan Qaboos does not want to offend anyone, because he is confident of himself and knows his country’s history well.”
Tension has been simmering since 2011 when Oman disbanded an Emirati spy cell targeting Sultan Qaboos. Oman was further incensed after the UAE unveiled its map which included Oman’s Musandam Province at the opening of Louvre Abu Dhabi last November.
The last straw came recently after a UAE series portrayed an Omani historical figure as an Emirati icon, Press TV reported.
Also according to Middle East Monitor, last month, media disputes erupted between Oman and the UAE, after Abu Dhabi organized a seminar claiming the late Umayyad ruler of Khorasan [in the north-east of modern Iran], Muhallab ibn Abi Safra [c.632 – February 702] was of Emirati decent although history proves he is Omani.
Earlier in January, the Emirati authorities presented a map at the new Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi which included the Omani province of Musandam within its border.
Muscat, which has tried to avoid being dragged into a Saudi-led rift with Qatar, is opposed to the UAE participation in the war against Yemen.
Just recently, Oman decided to ban the operations of an Emirati bank in the sultanate.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are accused of plotting to monopolize power in the Persian Gulf region through aggressive policies against their neighbors.
On Wednesday, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi unveiled a raft of economic deals, signing 20 memorandums of understanding for over 60 joint projects, including in the oil and gas, banking, nuclear energy, and defense.
The deals, approved at a meeting of the Saudi-emirati Coordination Council in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, did not involve the four other Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members – Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait.
Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Bahrain, and non-member Egypt imposed an all-out blockade against Qatar last year, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Doha has strongly denied the allegation.