Coll 6/65 'Relations between Saudi-Arabia and the Yemen.' [‎24r] (47/917)

V
THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
EASTERN (Arabia).
;B77 j
December 31, 1934.
CONFIDENTIAL.
V Jv;
Section 5.
[E 7797/79/25] No. 1.
^ Mr. Calvert to Sir John Simon.—{Received December 31.)
(No. 36$. )
Sir, Jedda, December 10, 1934.
KELATIONS between Saudi Arabia and the Yemen, since the recent dispute,
have to all appearances pursued an uneventful course and have ceased to occupy
the forefront of public attention locally. Nevertheless reports, vague but
persistent, have not been wanting that all is still not well in the Yemen. Frontier
difficulties are hinted at, and perhaps somewhat exaggerated stories are current
of the restiveness of the Seif-ul-Islam Ahmad, said to be under arms still at
Sada and chafing under the restrictions imposed by his father the Imam.
2. I have been disposed to attach little importance to these rumours, and
it is perhaps unnecessary to treat them seriously. My French colleague,
M. Maigret, spoke to me yesterday, however, on this subject, and whilst admitting
that his own information was indefinite, expressed the opinion that there
undoubtedly did exist trouble it was, at present, difficult to diagnose. He hoped
to leave Jedda shortly on a three weeks’ visit to Sana, and expected to be able
to arrive at a more accurate appreciation of the situation in the Yemen during
that time.
3. The unrest may be of purely internal significance, and may be a natural
reaction after the Imam’s ill-success in the late war with Saudi Arabia. The
press of both countries have, however, not entirely allayed misgivings recently
by protesting with vigour that the two countries are now on the most friendly
terms, and denying with emphasis the “false reports ’’ put about by interested
persons to the contrary. The Umm-al-Qura of the 23rd November quoted an
article from the Sana newspaper the Imam in which reports of the concentration
of troops on the Saudi-Yemen frontier were categorically denied. Peace and
tranquillity prevailed; conditions had returned to normal; and concord reigned
between the “ two Moslem sects ’’ (presumably the Zeidi and Shafi sects of the
Yemen). From the Hejazi press, the Iman continued, it was understood that a
similarly fortunate situation existed in this country. The Umm-al-Qura
delightedly welcomed the article with lengthy variations on the themes of Arab
brotherhood, the Treaty of Taif and the wiles of unscrupulous mischief-makers
inspired by hatred and jealousy of the Arabs and of Islam. I do not propose to
transmit to you a translation of this article.
4. It may not be out of place here to inform you, in regard to the Saudi-
Yemen treaty settlement, of the insistence with which Mr. Philby continues to
express his conviction that Ibn Saud did in fact receive a war indemnity from
the Imam. He has more than once reverted to the subject. Ibn Saud, Mr. Philby
stated quite recently, has for some two or three months been paying daily to his
tribal visitors at Riyadh (as I have recorded in Jedda reports for October and
November last) large sums in cash and kind, which my informant estimated at
an average of 40,000 Maria Theresa dollars a day, or an approximate total over
the whole period of about £100,000 gold. Where has this money come from if not
from the Imam? £100,000 would probably be the amount of the indemnity.
I still feel unable to share Mr. Philby’s conviction, and I find that the French
Charge d’Affaires, to whom Mr. Philby has spoken in a similar strain, is equally
sceptical. M. Maigret considered that Ibn Saud, to content the tribes disappointed
of loot in the war, has probably had to make serious inroads on the Royal Treasury,
and expressed his belief, from his personal knowledge of the Imam’s character,
that the latter would have continued the war, by no means lost to him after
the fall of Hudeida, rather than have parted with so considerable a sum of money.
5. I am sending copies of this despatch to Flis Majesty’s Ambassador at
Rome and His Majesty’s Chief Commissioner at Aden.
I have, &c.
A. S. CALVERT.
[281 hh—5]