Oman Says Sultan In Good Health After Medical Tests

Oman’s royal court has told Omanis that Sultan Qaboos, in Germany since July for medical tests, is in good health, state media reported on Thursday.

A statement by the court published ahead of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday did not say what kind of tests the 73-year-old ruler of the Gulf Arab state was undergoing or what he might be suffering from.

“His majesty the Sultan is in good health and is continuing … during the coming period the specified medical programme, which, with God’s grace, is achieving the reassuring and required results,” the statement, read on state television, said.

The statement said Sultan Qaboos also offered greetings to Omanis on the occasion of Eid, which starts on Saturday.

In private conversations, some Omanis have expressed worry about reports that the sultan, who has ruled since he ousted his father in a palace coup in 1970, is suffering from cancer. The authorities have not commented on the reports.

In his four decades as ruler, Sultan Qaboos has transformed the small oil exporter from a poverty-stricken backwater torn by dissent into a prosperous state, earning a reputation as a mediator seeking to ease periodic tensions non-Arab Iran and Gulf Arab states.