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'11/5 Negotiations with Ibn Saud regarding Boundaries of Saudi Arabia' [‎184v] (370/430)

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The record is made up of 1 file (212 folios). It was created in Mar 1944-4 Sep 1949. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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„ t<arr i tnrv beloneing to Ibn Saud were recognised as being
eastern lim1 ^ ° f - j j „ certain co-ordinates marked on a map which the Political
defined by a hne jo ni ,, co-ordinates may for convenience be
Agent in Musc f ^ad g h,m^i ^ ^ |<ey _ posts 0 / the - Ji.yadh line”
^paraSaph 20 of the memorandum referred to at the beginning of this
memorandum):
The intersection ol o2 J P-and 23 ••• •••
The intersection of 54° 40 P. al| d j-'“ 40 N
The intersection of 55° 40 P. and 22 N •••
The intersection of 55° P. and 20 N
The intersection of 52° P. and 19 J N 11
In August of that year, the Foreign Office suggested to the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. that a
communication might be addressed to the Sultan mentioning that His Majesty s
Government had taken note of the fact that, while he could not state precisely
he limits of his claims, he at any rate lodged no claim to territory beyond he
rvdnts DEG and H as defined by the above co-ordinates. It should be noted
Unit except’ for Dhofar, the hold of the Sultan over any territory west of the
Haiar mountains is exceedingly precarious
36 \lon°‘ tlic frontier of the Aden l rotectordte, the cltiims of I bn o<iud
are mainly based upon the “ Dira ” of the Murra tribe, which ranges over large
Dirts of Ruba-al-Khali. The Aden Government maintain that tribes dependent
on the Qu’aiti Sultan of Shihr and Mukalla (including tribes belonging to the
Kathiri Sultan of Seiyun) and the Mahri Sultan of Kishn and hocotra range
as far north, when in search of grazing.grounds, as a line joining the intersection
of meridian 55° E. with parallel 20° N. and the intersection of the Violet line
with parallel 18° N., although in the last resort a line running some twenty to
thirty miles further south might be conceded. The tribes mainly concerned are
the Seiar, Awamir, Manahil and Mahra.
(E)— Conclusion.
37. The foregoing paragraphs show that the country adjoining the Khor-
el-Odeid as well as the Jebel Nakhsh are areas inhabited by tribes who may owe
allegiance and pay tribute to Tbn Saud, and are, at any rate, probably beyond the
effective control of the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi or the Sheikh ol Qatar; that in
these circumstances Ibn Saud is legally entitled, in spite of the Anglo-Turkish
Convention of 1914, to claim them as being under his sovereignty; but that His
Majesty’s Government are precluded from admitting this claim by reason of the
fact that they have in the past formally acknowledged these areas to be within
the territory of the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi and the Sheikh of Qatar respectively,
notwithstanding the absence of any clear ground on which the claims to
sovereignty of these Sheikhs could be sustained.
38. the steps which have been taken since 1934 to find a solution of this
problem are the subject of a separate memorandum.
Eastern Department,
June 30, 1940.
Appendix.
Minute by Mr. W. E. Beckett.
WE start from the position that Turkey, by the treaty of 1914. article 3.
which adopted article 11 of the treaty of 1913, accepted ihe blue line as the
limits of Turkish sovereignty in this part of the Arabian peninsula. From this
it is clear that to the extent that Ibn Saud is the successor of the old Ottoman
Empire in this part of the world and must base his claim on such succession,
the blue line represents the limits of the territories which he acquired as Turkey’s
successor. I see that he was disposed to take the view that, even in 1913-14,
r l nrkey was not the sovereign in this part of the world, that he was already then

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Content

The file comprises correspondence, memoranda, maps, and other papers relating to questions over the position of Saudi Arabia’s south-eastern frontier adjoining Qatar and the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. shaikhdoms, notably Abu Dhabi. Negotiations over the frontier had long been deferred by British Government officials, as a result of the Ruler of Saudi Arabia ‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd’s [Ibn Saud] firm stance in negotiations before the Second World War. However, the need for a resolution became increasingly apparent as a result of ongoing oil exploration in Saudi Arabia by the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco), and exploration in Qatar and Abu Dhabi by Petroleum Concessions Limited (PCL). The principal correspondents in the file include: representatives of the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , Foreign Office, Ministry of Fuel and Power; the British Legation at Jedda; the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Bahrain; and the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .

The file includes:

  • correspondence, dating from 1944 and 1945, between British Government officials in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. and Foreign Office, discussing the previous difficulties encountered in negotiating Saudi Arabia’s south-eastern frontiers with Ibn Saud, and the agreement that further negotiations be left until after the event of Ibn Saud’s death (ff 2-29);
  • correspondence from late 1945 through 1947, between Government officials on the possible establishment of a neutral zone between Aramco’s concession area in Saudi Arabia, and PCL’s concession area in Qatar. Also, there is some discussion of Aramco’s proposals to begin seabed exploration off the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia (ff 36-59);
  • PCL’s request for permission to conduct seismic surveys at the southernmost limit of their concession area in Qatar (ff 76-95);
  • reports of Aramco survey parties making incursions into PCL’s concession areas in Qatar and Abu Dhabi (ff 104-127);
  • Government criticism of PCL’s delay in exploiting its concession areas in Qatar and Abu Dhabi (f 133);
  • preparations in August 1949 for the reopening of frontier negotiations with the Saudi Government in Jedda. Papers include: a copy of a confidential memorandum with map, dated 2 February 1948, on the south-eastern frontier of Saudi Arabia, prepared by J E Cable of the Eastern Department of the Foreign Office (ff 164-169; copy also at ff 87-91); three further confidential memoranda with maps, prepared by the Eastern Department in 1940, outlining past and present negotiations on the position of the south-eastern frontiers of Saudi Arabia (ff 170-180, ff 181-185, ff 186-188); proposals to send representatives from Qatar and Abu Dhabi to the Jedda negotiations (ff 190-203).
Extent and format
1 file (212 folios)
Arrangement

The file’s contents are arranged in approximate chronological order, from the earliest item at the front to the latest at the end. The file notes at the end of the file (ff 204-212) mirror the chronological arrangement.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover and terminates at the inside back cover; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. This file has the following foliation anomaly: 111A. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 4-203; these numbers are also written in pencil, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence, but they are not circled. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

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English in Latin script
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'11/5 Negotiations with Ibn Saud regarding Boundaries of Saudi Arabia' [‎184v] (370/430), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/465, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100028545189.0x0000ab> [accessed 23 April 2024]

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