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Military begins recruitment drive after widespread protests

Oman: The military has begun a recruitment drive in the wake of objections in Oman over unemployment and an oscillating economy. Protests have been continuing over the nation since Sunday in different regions of the sultanate, which treats a key British naval base settled across the Arabian Sea from Iran. Videos shared online have shown protesters fighting with police in the first such flare-up after the Arab Spring of 2011 when Omanis used the streets to ask for reformations. In an obvious effort to resolve joblessness in the nation, Sultan Haitham bin Tareq directed the defense ministry and other government institutions to generate 32,000 jobs for Omanis during 2021.

Oman, a nation of some 4.6 million people, of whom more than 40 percent are not Omani-nationals, has been affected hard by the decline in world crude values since 2014 and the coronavirus pandemic. The sultanate had been calculating on tourism to support its indicating economy but the virtual failure of international leisure travel has initiated back those methods. Oman’s GDP declined by 6.4 percent last year, while government debt increased to 81 percent of GDP from 60 percent in 2019, according to International Monetary Fund figures. Unemployment is moving at as much as 10 percent despite government attempts to generate more jobs for citizens in a region that has relied on cheap foreign workers for decades.

In April 2020, Oman directed state-owned enterprises to stimulate the means of reinstating foreign staff with Omani citizens. It gave them until July 2021 to bring up fixed timetables. The protests this week, which started in the city of Sohar about 200km northwest of the capital Muscat, are the first after Sultan Haitham climbed the authority in January last year, after the death of his cousin Sultan Qaboos, modern Oman’s founding father. The state news agency reported the conflicts in Sohar as “sabotage”.It said that some of the demonstrators “blocked roads and vandalized public and private properties in a flagrant violation of the basic law of the State”.

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Oman is famous for its rich history, scenic coastline, and beautiful terrain. But it is also recognized by Western powers as a fundamental regional mediator with Iran and with the Houthi rebels in Yemen. On Wednesday night, the sultan got a phone call from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, who “wished the Omani people further progress and prosperity under the wise leadership of His Majesty”, an official statement said.

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