The geopolitical importance of the Omani territory, its position relative to the Strait of Hormuz, is certainly not a contemporary discovery. “The Port of Muscat is very important for its situation and would be extremely important to seize, as soon as possible, for the success of the French commerce…”. So wrote the Ambassador of France in Constantinople, in a memoir of 1709, to Louis XIV. Moreover, under the pressure of the Persians, who wanted to neutralize a powerful neighbour, controller of Hormuz, a Strait of which they wanted to have complete control…even then (1) . An absolutely logical and evident strategic political ‘game’. Besides, in 1700, France and Great Britain were bitter rivals in the dispute over the political predominance over the Sultanate. In the 19th Century, Oman and Britain concluded many agreements of commerce and “friendship”, which had its most important moment in 1951, when London finally recognized Oman as an ‘independent State’.
In June, 1937, the Italian naval attaché at the Italian legation in Teheran sent a report to the Information Office of the Navy Staff, on the possibility of an Italian penetration on the coasts of Arabia (2) , The report was compiled by a ‘certain Tullio Pastore’ who had made a journey within the Sultanate of Oman for strictly commercial and private purposes: to verify the possibility of the utilization, with eventual requests to the Sultan, of concession of the salt resources in the Bay of Hafun, the position of which, between Aden and the Persian Gulf was considered particularly interesting.
Pastore, geologist and mining expert, did not exclude that the mining zones of the hinterland were of particular geological importance. In reality, it had already been noted that there were important oil formations with characteristic signs of the presence of the ‘black gold’ (3) . Not by accident was this news sent to the information Office of the Navy Staff.
Little is written about this territory, which extends along the south-east coast of the Arab Peninsula,
bordering with Saudi Arabia at the north-west, with the Arab Emirates at the north and with Yemen at the south-east, situated in a continually increasing ‘sensitive’ area, in present times, but which has also had a considerable importance in the past.
What are the essential elements to understand in the strategic value of a territory? Certainly, the geographical position, the ethnic and social composition of the population, the religion, the economic resources, but also its history, past and more recent, i.e. those geographical and historical constants which characterize, over the course of time, its geo-strategic position and constitute important elements also in understanding the present political role within the framework of the contingent situations of the global balances, besides the regional ones. Let us analyze them in synthesis.
Objective data: the Sultanate extends for more than 300,000 sq.km, with a great development of the coasts, circa 3,200 km. Perhaps, what is more important to better understand the geopolitical relevance is its geographical position on the Indian Ocean, projected towards the coasts of Somalia and Kenya. Another significant notation is the presence of two enclave territories: one is Madha, included in the Arab Emirates and the other is the Peninsula of Musandam, of about 75 sq.km, which dominates the Strait of Hormuz.
A strip of land which the Emirates separate from the principal Omani territory. Musandam is only 50 km from the south coast of Iran, overlooking the Persian Gulf; a few kilometers which, however, constitute the very heart of the problem. Only on the 15th July, 1974, was it possible for Oman and Iran to establish the lines of navigation in the narrowest part of the waterway, which is not much wider than 21 nautical miles across, with an agreement drawn up on the basis of a nautical chart of the British Admiralty (4) . A rendere più difficile l’accordo e la sua applicazione è la presenza di numerose isolette sulle coste dell’Oman e dell’Iran, la cui appartenenza non sempre è stata pacificamente attribuita.
To make the application of the agreement more difficult was the presence of numerous islets off the coasts of Oman and Iran, the ownership of which has not always been settled peacefully.
It is easy to understand that all the oil tankers that leave the Gulf pass through this Strait, circa 100 nautical miles long, but not only these, because all the naval, military and commercial traffic of the Gulf must also pass through that bottle neck: world-wide attention is fixed on what is happening in the Persian Gulf, with the Ports of Basra in Iraq, of Minah al Ahmad in Kuwait, terminal of one of the very numerous pipelines of the zone, of Bandar-e-Shapur, Busher and Bandar Abbas in Iran.
Also, the presence of the building of the LNG plant is not to be forgotten – property of Abu Dhabi, near the Island of Das – the most important center, with the most advanced technologies, of the storage for exportation of the off-shore oil and gas of the Arab Emirates. Just by citing these names, one has the impression of the geostrategic importance of the Persian Gulf , which ‘liberates’ its traffic, of whatever nature, towards the Gulf of Oman through the Strait of Hormuz!
Other data for an analysis: the population count is 2,300,000 inhabitants: Omanis and half a million immigrated foreign workers (5) , in particular, provenance from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It is composed of Arabs, with Persian and Baluchi minorities, completely integrated in the Omani social fabric. Of note is the fact that for the last 200 years an important Indian colony has been settled here, chiefly in the city of Muscat, Matrah and Salalah, which have, nevertheless, solidly maintained the traditions of their original culture, now strongly rooted in the territory. Principally, they dedicate themselves to commerce and the restaurant trade. As far as the Omanis are concerned, the population is, on an average, very young: official documents show that 60% is made up of young people under the age of twenty-five years. Around 45,000 subjects enter the work market every year, the major part of them with a superior education diploma, but not all find an immediate occupation that is satisfactory to a citizen born and grown up in the territory (6) .
It is also to be noted that the major part of the population is concentrated in the capital and the surrounding territories. The coastal belt that goes towards the Musandam Peninsula, to the north, is fairly well populated; another very densely populated center is Salalah, to the south; the rest is scarcely inhabited because the mountain range behind the coastal area offers few possibilities of earning a living, and those few that existed in the past, like the terraced cultivation of Jebel Al Aktar, for example, are now abandoned by the young people, who seek more profitable activities in the city, in a State where the standard of living is, undoubtedly, higher.
The spoken language is Arabic, but almost everyone, at least, in the principal cities, speaks English. Other than the Hindi and Urdu dialects, Baluchi, which is very similar to Persian, is spoken.
A ‘key’ notation concerns the religious aspect, which in this, as in other cases, has had, and has, a significant influence on the development of the history of the Country and on its present behaviour with respect to the Islamic integralism of terrorist matrix. The Omanis are Ibaditi Moslems, in the majority (7) , It is also to be noted that the major part of the population is concentrated in the capital and the surrounding territories. The coastal belt that goes towards the Musandam Peninsula, to the north, is fairly well populated; another very densely populated center is Salalah, to the south; the rest is scarcely inhabited because the mountain range behind the coastal area offers few possibilities of earning a living, and those few that existed in the past, like the terraced cultivation of Jebel Al Aktar, for example, are now abandoned by the young people, who seek more profitable activities in the city, in a State where the standard of living is, undoubtedly, higher.
The spoken language is Arabic, but almost everyone, at least, in the principal cities, speaks English. Other than the Hindi and Urdu dialects, Baluchi, which is very similar to Persian, is spoken.
A ‘key’ notation concerns the religious aspect, which in this, as in other cases, has had, and has, a significant influence on the development of the history of the Country and on its present behaviour with respect to the Islamic integralism of terrorist matrix. The Omanis are Ibaditi Moslems, in the majority (8) which had formed throughout the ages, presented almost impossible livable conditions.
The history of the Sultanate is very interesting. It contributes to a better comprehension of the present reality and demonstrates how this territory has always been considered a strategic point of primary importance, also when the race for the black gold had not yet started. Muscat, in fact, had the role of a powerful naval base during the entire Portuguese period of Oman, i.e. nearly 150 years, from the beginning of the 16th Century until 1648 and, still today, has the role of a primary port in the sector. The Portuguese never had the intention of expanding into the interior and it would not have been easy in that period, considering the orographical conformation of the territory; their principal concern was always to guarantee the security of the coasts, to dominate the commercial flows – mainly, of the rich spices – between Western Europe and the East, to the detriment of the Turks in the Mediterranean and the Arabs in the Gulf and in the Red Sea. The Portuguese naval power, strongly anchored also on those coasts, entailed, at the time, a change in the relations of force between the Arabs, the Asians and Europeans in the Indian Ocean, reducing the Arab hegemony, which was centered in Zanzibar, to zero. The stable presence on the Omani coasts allowed, and allows, the realization of a certain type of naval policy, local and of sectoral area, then as now.
Brief periods of Yemenite and Persian invasions on the Portuguese followed, but in reality, since 1690, Oman has been independent (9) ,even though recognition by Europe came much later, when, after the Second World War, the concept of full independence was affirmed, beyond the spheres of interests or of influence, confirmed, however, with a policy of constant military presence.
To realize how strategically important the Omani territory has always been in history, it is sufficient to note that there are approximately 600 fortified buildings, fortresses and look-out towers, which have been constructed since 1100 until now (10) . In the 18th Century, the Sultanate of Muscat, precisely because of its geographic position with coast development was able to create a maritime empire, which went from East Africa to Baluchistan, a region straddling the present Pakistan and Iran, controlling the coasts of Somalia and Kenya; at the same time, however, it had to control the interior against enemy tribes of the Sultan and it was done, among other things, with the construction of numerous look-out towers, which rose on raised points of the longer wadis: now they seem like little ‘cathedrals’ in the desert, but their military function is very clear.
This geographical position, certain homogeneity, or however, integration of the population, together with the past history, is an important constant to assess together with the present economic resources: in this specific case, gas and oil. Tourism is only just starting, even if it presents enormous potential, due, in part, to the intelligent restoration and consequent cultural usability of the extremely numerous presence of military architecture.
Since he assumed power (1970) the present Monarch, Sultan Qaboos made it possible for even the most out-of-the-way village in the interior and on the coasts, to have, as first opportunity of modernization of the State, electric light and drinkable water. Diffused education was also the other primary objective: a university and schools were constructed in order to have a local society educated at various levels and, often, specializing in prestigious foreign institutes. In the last decade, numerous highways have been constructed, which permit easier exchange from a cultural and commercial viewpoint, undoubtedly facilitating a larger cultural and economic integration between the different regions of the Country, essential basis for the maintenance of a solid internal stability necessary to all the strategic zone. Much more necessary, if one remembers that in the past Oman suffered various attempts of de-stabilization, the work of both the Saudis and the Yemenites: now, the political situation is completely changed, so much so that those Ibaditi, who once fled to the inhospitable mountains of Jebel Al Aktar to flee from the Sunnites, after even contemporary conflicts, are now in optimum relations with Saudi Arabia and are secure allies of London and Washington.
Therefore, Oman is one of those territories which, notwithstanding the military-technological progress of the last centuries, has not lost its fundamental geopolitical role on the region for certain reasons, not last, the control of the Strait of Hormuz, certainly, albeit to geographically sharing with a powerful neighbour like Iran, which has always posed as the ‘guardian keeper’ of the Gulf.
After the Islamic revolution of 1979, the iron control, exercised, at the time, by the last Shah, Pahlavi, diminished in intensity in the first year of the new regime; when the war with Iraq broke out, the Government of the Islamic Republic realized the absolute necessity of having almost complete mastery of the Strait, considering also the importance, for the Persian economy, of the Iranian ports which look out onto the Strait, for example, like Bandar Abbas, precisely facing the Peninsula of Musandam.
Indeed, the Islamic revolution profoundly re-evaluated the role of ‘sentinel de facto’ of the Strait, seeking to have the pre-eminence over Oman. On their side, the United States secured, therefore, the right of use of the Ports of Muscat and Salalah and that of the airport on the Island of Masirah, which is about 800 kms from Hormuz, in position of controller of the major routes of oil tankers and other vessels.
The geo-political value of Oman is undeniable, and the need of the United States (and Great Britain) to affirm their position in that sector – to counter-balance that of Iran over the Strait – is in the wake of previous historical situations (i.e. the struggle between the English and French for pre-imminent influence on the Omani territory): moreover, it should not be forgotten that, in reality, Teheran enjoys a better geographical-economic position on the Strait, considering the military and commercial impact of Bandar Abbas, which does not have an Omani counterpart.
Ports and coasts are too important for any kind of activity - legal or illegal. Paradoxically, in this sector of the Indian Ocean, it seems almost that time has been turned back in history: pirates that make assaults on modern “galleys”, in other words, cruise liners or commercial cargo, demanding enormous ransoms to invest, not only in everyday needs, but above all, in more sophisticated armaments, or to continue in an activity well known there since the beginning of the century, the ever flourishing smuggling of arms, to which they add equally remunerative more modern activities (drugs, toxic wastes…). All this can and is made possible if in one of the territories of the sector, there is a “collapsed” State, in which different factions co-exist or are at war, for example, like Somalia, where, perhaps, the situation is becoming much more difficult also for illegal commerce, for the very reason of the recognized existing anarchy. In June, 2009, notwithstanding the presence of the NATO Forces in the zone, the Somali pirate incursions on the Omani coasts of Salalah is an alarm bell that cannot be underestimated.
If, to all this, is added the extremely difficult situation of the Persian Gulf, which is affected by the Iraqi situation, the Iranian one and, if only by reflection, that of Afghanistan, also on the basis of historical events above indicated, it clearly results that Oman must continue to enjoy great internal stability and remain secure allies, not of the Western World, as they say, but of that part of the global community that wants to defeat any form of fundamentalism. It cannot be denied, therefore, that Oman is an interesting Country for many perspectives of analysis.