ABSTRACT
From the mid-seventeenth century onwards, the Ya’ariba rulers of Oman performed a political balancing act in the administration of the territories under their control. They increasingly directed their efforts towards consolidating their overseas possessions in East Africa by appointing walis and establishing garrisons in key towns like Mombasa, Zanzibar, Pemba and Kilwa1 while they themselves remained in their capital in Rustaq, thereby keeping a firm grip on the tribal situation in Oman.2 Since that time leaders of communal groups in East Africa became increasingly caught up in the political vicissitudes that were to affect Oman. Thus, from the time of the civil wars that plagued Oman from 1719 until the election of Ahmad b Sa’îd Âlbûsa’îdî to the Imamate in 1749,3 tribal allegiances in both Oman and Africa faced a need for readjustment with the change of leadership.4
