File 37/1905 Pt 4 'Aden Frontier Delimitation' [‎33r] (72/1197)

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force as Political’ Officer. ^L^onsequence^oT * 8 ^ aooom P ail ‘ ed the
Wakab, a Native Mountain Battery was orrWor! ^ e P r ® s ® nt ations from Colonel
battalion already sanctioned. y d red t0 Aden > in add ition to the
65. The column reached Dthala on 10 th nnrl n,i, r
the total British force to about 900 men includin^llrin t lUS , raisin ?
> native sappers and camel sowars of the AdcnTroon Th™'?' 1 ’, ^ a few
increased their garrisons at Kataba and tioop. Ihe Turks had also
between the two places? “evTn mountafn ha , d ab “ Ut 850 me “
modern breech-loading weapons. It was further" repoHed That SUa ’ al ‘
raising a body of tiOO Arab levies. reported that they were
68 . The presence of the Turkish force at Tnl^io i -i , •
attitude, made it impossible for the British Commission to n ] 8 P ract ?; ca ^y hostile
as-Shub, as the line of communication with BB^fw ad ? i n ° e to La hhm a t-
and in Turkish hands. TlTcommCioTakffoundT 3 f. 0 “ P n ! ly COmmaaded
tions with the Yaffai Sheikhs w^rTewto coZnTto af aTr V . 0 °P ei l“ eg T a -
passage of the Commission along their frontier sum)o?in“ thoT ’ 6 ?® 114 fol i. the
demarcation in that direction. supposing the Turks agreed to
67. An incident which occurred at this time emnlnsirod ti,„ .,
for terminating in some manner the extraordinaary situatfon ^in ^ 0 “ nThfl 7
plateau. Lieutenant Tandy, R.B., the officer in charge of the (TmmkTn
Survey party, was attacked by an Arab within a short distance of the camn nnd
received a spear wound m the hip. The assailant ran away across the Turkkh
hne^and could not be foliowed, although the incident took place in broad d^y-
r ' ;b - 0 , n f )th dannar 7 Lord Curzon despatched a telegram to His Maiestv’,
Government strongly urging that the question of the Amiri boundary ihoffid
be settled without further delay, and advocating a prompt display of force P ifw
by sending a considerable body of troops to Dthala? 0 “^ a lyffi de™nstratten
at Hodeida, or both. His Excellency said:—“ Everv rcr»rp« 3 pnfQfim a v,
itherto made has been endorsed by Mr. Fitzmaurice’s report; and our?tron»
recommendation is that we should use the present opportunity to Tettle the
main question, and not merely minor and petty issues. There will bo
peace on the Dthala border whilst the Turkish occupation south of Kataba
continues. The green line on Wahab’s map of 2 nd December is supported bv
powerful arguments and strongly advocated by Mr. Pitzmaurice, audit seems
tons that we are now justified in demanding its acceptance as the frontier We
emphatically urge that the political pivot of the whole question is the Dthala
wdl bTyffinelesT SettlemeQt which leaves its futu ^ “ protracted doubt
69. Almost at the same time the British Ambassador at Coustantinonle
succeeded in obtaining another Irade from the Sultan. On the 21 st January
Sir IV O Conor telegraphed to Mr. Fitzmauriee that the following demands
had been agreed to by the Sultan s aemands
“ (1) Yaffai to he considered one of the nine cantons.
“ (2) Irregular levies to be withdrawn.
“ (3) Authority of Amir, as exercised in October 1901, not to be
disturbed.
“ (4) Delimitation north-eastward from Lakhmat-as-Shub to the desert
frontier.”
He added, however, that the instructions to the Yemen authorities fell
short as usual of the agreement, hut that nevertheless they mHht help the
The orders actually telegraphed by the Porte to the Turkish Commissioners
appear to have been as follows ^
First .—That the irregular levies were to be disbanded.