On the Sultan’s Secret Service: Oman, Rhodesia, and the CargOman Affair

In early 1977, international authorities began noticing a new and mysterious cargo airliner flying the skies. A Douglas DC-8 in green and red livery and emblazoned with the name ‘CargOman’ in both Arabic and English. The plane’s roundel, featuring an Omani-style khanjar knife, only further added to the impression that this was an Omani plane. In fact, ‘CargOman’ was a front organisation, a joint Omani-Rhodesian covert operation and the most visible sign of a secret relationship stretching across Africa and the Indian Ocean. DPhil candidate Naif Alrogi (Nuffield College) will present a chapter from his doctoral thesis shedding light on this little known Cold War story, of how and why a newly independent Gulf Arab country served as a crucial lifeline for sanctioned and isolated Rhodesia.