Page 303 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

INNER OMAN AND ZUBARAH 241
In 1913, another major revolution occurred against the Sultan’s
interference in the internal affairs of Oman. This led to protracted
negotiations between the Sultan and the Imam, through the mediation
of the British authorities in Muscat, for reaching a modus vivemli
for the situation.1 But it was not until 1920 that an arrangement
acceptable to both the Sultan and the Imam was reached. It is this
arrangement which has given rise to the legal aspect of the Omani-
Muscati dispute.

The legal aspect: the Secret Treaty of Sib, 25 September 1920
As mentioned above, the Omani-Muscati dispute entered a new phase
when the British Government thought seriously of taking practical
steps which would reduce, or frustrate, the tension between the
Sultan and the Imam. Thus, after long preliminary meetings and
negotiations between the representatives of the Imam and the British
Consul in Muscat, acting on behalf of the Sultan, the parties finally
agreed on the terms of an Agreement, known as the Treaty of Sib,
1920,2 in which the respective authority of the Sultan in Muscat and
the Imam in Oman has been defined. This agreement which was con­
cluded in Arabic was not published at the time, and when the Omani-
Muscati conflict arose in 1955, and in 1957, the Sultan and the
British Government refused to release details about its provisions.
But the representatives of the Imam of Oman disclosed their own text
of the agreement.3
The provisions of the agreement were divided into two parts, with
four Articles pertaining to the ‘People of Oman’, in one part, and four
Articles pertaining to the Sultan in the other.
In part one, Article (1) fixed the maximum of 5 per cent as a charge
to be imposed by the Government of Muscat on goods of Omanis
coming to the coastal towns under the jurisdiction of the Sultan.
Article (2) provided for the security and freedom of Omanis in ‘all
the coastal towns’, Article (3) provided for the removal of ‘all restric­
tions upon everyone entering and leaving Muscat and Mutrah and

1 Aitchison, p. 284. And see House of Commons Debates, vol. 574, col. 33,22 July
1957 (Mr Sclwyn Lloyd’s speech). It is to be noted that Mr Sclwyn Lloyd had
incorrectly stated that ‘until 1793, the Sultan of Muscat was also Imam of Oman.
Then a separate Imamatc was elected.’ The historical facts are that until 1793, there
was no Sultanate, but there was an Imamate. It was after this date that a Sultanate,
which broke away from the Imamate, was established. Sec above, p. 239.
2 Reference to the Treaty of Sib, 1920, is found in Aitchison, p. 284; Thesiger,
op. cit., p. 162; Eccles, op. cit., pp. 23-4; Thomas, B., Arab Rule Under the Al Bu
Said Dynasty of Oman, 1741-1937 (1938), p. 26; Morris, J., Sultan of Oman:
Venture into the Middle East (1957), pp. 148-51.
3 For an English translation of the Arabic text of the Agreement, see The Arab
Information Center, New York, The Status of Oman and the British Omanitc
Dispute (1957), Annex I. Sec Appendix V.