BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Olympic torch travels on to Oman

heads up: this is a pretty old post, it may be outdated.

Unsurprisingly, the Olympic torch hasn't sparked any protests in the non-democractic country of Oman. Of course it helps that the country is controlled by the Sultan who is an absolute ruler. His interest in limiting any protests is this:

Oman has strong economic ties with China, a major importer of its oil.

It seems that the stop in Tanzania was equally uneventful. The country is democratic, having developed it's government after it's British colonial experience. I suppose that the people of the country have worries greater than the human rights violations of China and/or the freedom of Tibet.