Musallam bin Nufl (?-July 7, 2013), was a key insurgent leadership figure of the
Dhofar Liberation Front (DLF) which was the main rebel force in Southern
Oman
Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...
in the 1960s. He was also a senior member of an influential and large Dhofari desert tribe known as the Bait Kathir (al Kathiri).
In 1963 Musallam bin Nufl who had been a member of the Omani Sultan's household staff traveled to meet other Omani dissidents living in
Dammam
Dammam (Arabic: الدمام ad-Dammām) is a city and governorate, and the capital of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Located on the coast of the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 1,386,166 as of 2022, making it the country's fifth- ...
in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
, who had twice failed to set up a separate Imamate in the north of the country. Bin Nufl and the DLF would commence guerrilla operations on his return from Iraq and Saudi Arabia later in 1963. The DLF though would wait till 1965 before declaring its intent although it would have to wait until the British withdrawal from neighboring
Aden
Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...
in 1967 before receiving a further injection of support from the now avowed
Marxist
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
People's Democratic Republic of Yemen
South Yemen, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, abbreviated to Democratic Yemen, was a country in South Arabia that existed in what is now southeast Yemen from 1967 until its unification with the Yemen Arab Republic in 19 ...
. According to official reports in February 1966 Musallam bin Nufl was seriously injured whilst attempting smuggle arms from Saudi Arabia into Oman, the convoy that he was leading was interdicted by Omani armed forces and all vehicles destroyed.
In 1968 a conference of senior leaders of the various liberation factions decided to opt for a more Marxist approach to achieving success against Western-backed royal families. Musallam bin Nufl and other key leaders of the DLF rejected the more Marxist regional anti-British cause, choosing to stick with their more narrow nationalist and separatist agenda in Dhofar. In fact once the highly conservative Sultan
Said bin Taimur
Said bin Taimur (; 13 August 1910 – 19 October 1972) was the 13th Sultan of Muscat and Oman from 10 February 1932 until he was deposed on 23 July 1970 by his son Qaboos bin Said.
He was a member of the Al Bu Said dynasty who in 1932 became ...
was replaced by his son
Qaboos bin Said
Qaboos bin Said Al Said (, ; 18 November 1940 – 10 January 2020) was Sultan of Oman from 23 July 1970 until his death in 2020. A fifteenth-generation descendant of the founder of the Al Bu Said dynasty, he was the longest-serving leader in t ...
in 1970 many in the original DLF leadership group (including Musallam bin Nufl and
Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah
Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah (, born 1945) is an Omani politician. He was the Sultanate of Oman's Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs. It is important to clarify that "Ministers in Responsibility" were previously appointed as the Sultan was ...
) allied themselves with new and more progressive Sultan; they reasoned that with the change in ruler in the Sultanate the DLF had achieved what it needed.
[Ibid. p152]
See also
*
Omani Civil War (1963-76)
*
Arab Nationalist Movement
The Arab Nationalist Movement (, ''Harakat al-Qawmiyyin al-Arab''), also known as the Movement of Arab Nationalists and the Harakiyyin, was a pan-Arab nationalist organization influential in much of the Arab world, particularly within the Pales ...
*
Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah
Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah (, born 1945) is an Omani politician. He was the Sultanate of Oman's Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs. It is important to clarify that "Ministers in Responsibility" were previously appointed as the Sultan was ...
*
Dhofar Governorate
The Dhofar Governorate () is the largest of the 11 Governorates of Oman, governorates in the Oman, Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah Governorate and the southern border wi ...
*
Yemen
Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...
*
Arabian Sands
''Arabian Sands'' is a 1959 book by explorer and travel writer Wilfred Thesiger. The book focuses on the author's travels in the Arabian Peninsula between 1945 and 1950, and details his two crossings of the Empty Quarter undertaken between 1946 ...
Other Sources
Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: D–K – DhofarisAden Insurgency: The Savage War in Yemen 1962-67
References
2013 deaths
People from Salalah
20th-century Omani people
People of the Dhofar War
{{Oman-bio-stub