Qaboos, the sultan who shielded Oman from region's turmoil

Muscat, Jan 11 (AFP) Oman's Sultan Qaboos, who died on Friday d 79, transformed former Arabian Peninsula backwater into a modern state and sought-after mediator while shielding sultanate from a region in turmoil.

intensely private sultan –  longest-reigning ruler in modern Arab world – left apparent heir and royal family was charged with selecting a successor.

Inste, however y opted for sultan's own choice, his cousin Haitham bin Tariq, who was named in a sealed letter that Qaboos h prepared in case of a delock.

Qaboos was born on vember 18, 1940, into centuries-old Al-Said dynasty in sourn provincial capital of Salalah, in an isolated country on margins of modern world.

Older Omanis recall capital Muscat h electricity or running water and gates of medieval city were locked at dusk.

young Qaboos was sent abro for his education to Britain, attending elite Sandhurst Royal Military Acemy from where he gruated in 1962.

He went on to join a British infantry battalion in Germany, returning home to bide his time under close watch of his far, Sultan Said bin Taymur.

On July 23, 1970, Qaboos deposed his far in a palace coup, pledging "a new era" for nation.

Oman is strategically located on Strait of Hormuz -- narrow seaway through which much of world's oil supply passes -- and between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Qaboos maintained good ties with both nations, a balancing act that me his capital a must-stop for Western and Arab diplomats as well as military chiefs alike.

sultan's first foreign trip was to Iran, whose Shah – along with British – helped him quell Marxist insurgency he inherited from his far in restive Dhofar region.

Those ties endured through Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution that ushered in a Shiite ocracy.

Muscat would serve as backchannel for talks between United States and Iran in le-up to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

Qaboos also worked to preserve ties with Saudi Arabia and rest of wealthy six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to which Oman belongs, but stuck to his principle of n-interference.

In 2015, Oman was only GCC country t to join a Saudi-led military coalition against Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen.

It leverd this neutrality to mediate release of multiple foreign hosts captured by Yemen's warring factions.

Muscat also maintained close military and ecomic ties with Britain and US.

Unlike or Arab states, Qaboos did t contest Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel, opening a tre office in Tel Aviv in mid-1990s -- shuttered in 2000 during a Palestinian uprising.

In October 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held surprise talks with Qaboos in Muscat – a move that raised Palestinian fears of a rmalisation of ties.

Qaboos faced rare protests at height of Arab Spring in 2011 and responded by sacking ministers accused of corruption.

But his government left for opposition, shuttering independent Azzaman newspaper and jailing its editor as well as writer of a critical article.

Qaboos assumed power as an unkwn and spent his first years cultivating respect of his countrymen, from mountaius interior to coast.

"In early years, he went vill to vill and he h a weekly rio dress -- that was only way to reach entire population at time," said Muscat-based public policy analyst Ahmed al-Mukhaini.

Qaboos channelled revenues from fledgling oil exports into infrastructure, taking country from having just a handful of primary schools and some eight kilometres (six miles) of paved ros to a modern state with well over 1,000 schools and a massive highway network.

sultan also commissioned an opera house for Muscat, its packed calendar a testament to his support for arts.

But Qaboos was ceremonial monarch. He held every top post, from commander of armed forces to finance minister.

In 1991, he offered a modicum of democracy, creating a Consultative Council -- with elected members -- to complement State Council -- whose members he appointed.

During nearly five deces in power, Qaboos chose never to remarry after a brief union in 1976.

In his final years, he was believed to be suffering from colon cancer and rarely appeared in public following medical treatment in Germany in March 2015.

When he did, gaunt, bronzed sultan still cut a refined figure in sumptuous robes and colourful turbans.