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Coll 1/12 'Policy in the Protectorate: treaty with the Upper Yafai Chiefs, and other Chiefs in the Protectorate' [‎185v] (370/376)

The record is made up of 1 file (188 folios). It was created in 14 Feb 1929-1 Aug 1939. 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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5*
Memorandum.
An examination of the situation in the, Aden Protectorate leads
to the conclusion that a policy which was formulated in the early
part of the last century, when conditions were very different, no
longer meets the needs of the situation. On the contrary, it
entails responsibilities, which it is impossible to discharge-^
adequately in existing conditions without increased military anr
administrative expenditure.
2 . The Aden Protectorate is approximately enclosed between a
line running north-east from a point on the coast opposite the
island of Perim and the south-eastern coast line of Arabia, the
base of the triangle being closed, as far as the Yemen is con
cerned, by the uninhabited desert of the Rub ‘el Khali. Apart
from a limited area round Aden itself, which is definitely in
British possession and under direct British administration, the
Protectorate is divided into nine main divisions, and it is only
on the paramount Chiefs of these divisions, all of whom draw
stipends from His Majesty’s Government, that the authorities
at Aden can rely for the control and direction of the tribes. The
resources at the disposal of the Resident at Aden preclude any
other course of action, and in theory the policy may appear based
on sound principles. In practice, however, it is unworkable and
Yunproductive. Each division or tribe is sub-divided into many
smaller tribes, whose allegiance to the paramount Chief is fre
quently only nominal and often non-existent, influenced as it is
by the personal character and ability of the paramount Chief him
self and the ever-changing circumstances of tribal feud and in
trigue. This is especially the case in the northern districts
bordering on the Yemen frontier, some of which are distant as
far as 200 miles from Aden, where British control is entirely
unfelt and where each tribe and sub-tribe is practically a law unto
itself.
3. In these conditions it is not easy to see how the responsi
bilities for the preservation of law, order and defence which are
implied by the existence of the Protectorate are to be discharged
adequately without a permanent, and perhaps increasing, exten
sion of administrative and military activity.
4. It has been urged that the Protectorate, as it now exists,
is an important factor in the defence of Aden; that it interposes
a buffer against any hostile attack by land; and that it ensures
timely warning of such an attack. There is some force in these
arguments, but the advantages which they claim hardly com
pensate for the embarrassment and even danger which is
threatened by a continuance of the present state of affairs. The
frontier tribes lack cohesion and have no particular incentive,
other than the passing inclination or advantage of the moment,
to remain loyal. They would be quite unable as at present
organised to combine to resist any serious attack and would
without doubt, and very naturally, adopt an opportunist policy,
as was the case when the Turks attacked Aden in 1915. If these
military advantages are to be secured, it can only be by establish
ing real control over the tribes and having such a force at Aden

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Content

The file contains papers regarding proposals to alter the basis of treaty relationships with tribes in the Aden Protectorate, comprising annotated treaty drafts, plus correspondence between the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, 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. Political Department, the Aden Resident (later Chief Commissioner, then Governor), and the Air Ministry.

The correspondence primarily concerns a proposal by the Resident (Sir Stewart Symes) to replace existing individual tribal treaties with a single instrument, and to cease payments of fixed stipends for general service in favour of payments for services rendered. The proposed change in policy was later abandoned by the Chief Commissioner, Sir Bernard Reilly.

The correspondence also concerns Symes's conference at Lahej, and the pact with the Lahej and other Chiefs to defend against Yemeni incursion into the Aden Protectorate; the deteriorating relationship between the Aden Protectorate and the Imam of San'a; and the suggestion by the Resident that a Chiefs' council should be established along the lines of the tribal councils in Baluchistan, to act as the central authority for the settlement of tribal affairs.

The papers dated 1939 concern the Tripartite Agreement with the Qu'ayti [Qu'ayṭī] and Kathiri Sultans in the Aden Protectorate; the treaty between the British Government and Sultan Salih bin Ghalib Al Qu'ayti [Ṣāliḥ bin Ghālib Al Qu'ayṭī], Sultan of Shihr and Mukalla; and the reconstituted Qu'ayti-Kathari Agreement of 1918.

A copy of the Report by Sir Gilbert Clayton on his Mission to the Imam of San'a (Colonial Office, 1926) is enclosed at folios 156-187.

The following treaty and agreement drafts are found within the file:

  • the agreement [the Lahej Pact] between the Chiefs of tribes and districts within the Aden Protectorate made 6 April 1929 in the presence of the Resident and Commander-in-Chief, ff 119-120;
  • a draft treaty between the Chiefs of Upper Yafa and His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, agreeing to adhere to the purposes of the Lahej Pact of 6 April 1929, ff 84-85, 64-65, and 46;
  • a draft agreement reconstituting the Qu'ayti-Kathiri Agreement of 1918, between His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, His Highness the Qu'ayti Sultan of Shihr and Mukalla, and the Kathiri Sultan of Seiyun, on behalf of the Sultans of the Family of 'Abdulla al Kathiri, dated 26 February 1939, ff 19-23;
  • a draft treaty between His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, and Sultan Ja'far bin Mansur al Kathiri, Sultan of Seiyun, dated 2 March 1939, ff 17-18;
  • a draft treaty between His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, and Sultan Salih bin Ghalib al Qu'ayti, Sultan of Shihr and Mukalla, dated 13 August 1937, ff 3-6.

The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio one).

Extent and format
1 file (188 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the folder.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 188; 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. An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 15-188; these numbers are also written in pencil and circled, but have been superseded and therefore crossed out. A typescript pagination sequence is present in parallel between ff 156-87.

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Coll 1/12 'Policy in the Protectorate: treaty with the Upper Yafai Chiefs, and other Chiefs in the Protectorate' [‎185v] (370/376), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/1450, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100029535657.0x0000ab> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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