CONFIDENTIAL SLAVERY IN MUSCAT AND OMAN, THE TRUCIAL STATES AND SOUTH ARABIA Muscat and Oman Little reliable information exists about domestic slavery in the Sultanate, though it is generally presumed to be wide spread. As an institution recognised by Shari'a Law it is regarded as legal. The Sultan himself is thought to own a considerable number of slaves. However, with his full agreement Her Majesty's Consul-General in Muscat has the right to grant a manumission certificate to any slave who applies for it, and these certificates are invariably respected by the Sultanate authorities. The number of applicants for manumission is not large; there were 14 in 1961, 22 in 1962 and 8 during the first four months of 1963. 2. On April 14, 1873, the then Sultan, Turki bin Said, concluded a treaty with Her Majesty's Government for the abolition of the slave trade, which was subsequently totally prohibited by proclamations in 1873 and 1884. The present Sultan, like his predecessors, has done everything possible to honour this obligation. Accusations that the Sultanate engages in slave trading with Saudi Arabia date mainly from the period when Buraimi Oasis was a neutral zone. After the Oasis was occupied by the Saudi armed band in August, 1952, Hamasa Village became a notorious slave market. The traffic has ceased since the Sultanate's reoccupation of the Oasis in October 1955. 3. The Anti-Slavery Society has on occasion protested that by our close association with the Sultan of Muscat we are condoning slavery. Our reply has invariably been that /neither CONFIDENTIAL
