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File 869/1904 Pt 2 'Arms Traffic: - Red Sea, Africa and Aden' [‎89v] (187/540)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (266 folios). It was created in 29 Oct 1902-23 Dec 1908. It was written in English and French. 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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20
Memorandum from M 4 > 0 E-Gffl<BEAi H. M. Masok, Political Eeeident at Aden, No. 376,.
dated Aden Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. , the 21st January 1906.
Advance copv forwarded with compliments to the Secretary to the
Government of India in the foreign Department, Simla.
Notes of an interview held at Jibouti on Friday, the 5th January 1906, at which were present
Doctor Ormieres, the Governor of Jibouti, General H. M. Mason, the Pohtical Res,-
dent of Aden, General E. J. E. Swayne, H. M.’s Commissioner and Commander-in-
Chief of the Somaliland Protectorate, Commander A. R. Hnlbert, R.N., Senior Naval
Officer of the Aden Division, and Captain F. deB. Hancock, Acting First Ass.stant
Resident to 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. , Aden.
General Mason informed Doctor Ormieres that rifles and ammunition of
Drench manufacture were now both plentiful and cheap within t le limits of
the Aden Protectorate. He referred to the lawless and practically uncivilized
character of the Subehi, and of some of the other tribes of South-Western
Arabia, into whose possession these weapons fell. He referred to the danger
and inconvenience experienced in the Aden Hinterland oumg to the ease uith
which rifles and ammunition would now be obtained throughout the 1 epen ency.
And he invited Doctor Ormieres to consider the possibility ot taking turtner
measures to check the indiscriminate traffic in arms which was, apparently,
still taking place between Jibouti and the littoral of South-Western Arabia.
2. Doctor Ormiferes replied that the export of rifles to the Yemen was
forbidden. He could not, however, afford any definite information as to the
extent of the littoral to which this prohibition extended. He said that every
thing possible was being done to regulate the trade m arms and to restrict the
dissemination thereof on the Somali Coast. He said that only recently i had
come to his notice that component parts of arms were being imported to Jibouti
with a view to evading the customs and other rules on the subject, and that
orders had been issued on the 30th December last to meet this.
3. He appears to recognise the inconvenience arising from the possession
of arms of precision by uncivilized and lawless tribes, and to understand that
the Subehi tribes might occupy in regard to the Aden administration a some
what similar position to that occupied by the Essa tribe of Somalis in regard
to Jibouti. He also appeared to recognise the risk of re-importation to
Somaliland of the arms exported to Arabia. He referred to the similar risk
of the re-importation of the arms supplied to Abyssinia. Only two months ago
he said that there had been a consignment of 1,800 rifles to Has Makomen at
Harrar, and he evidently regarded it as possible that some of these would even
tually find their way back to the coast and into the possession of those who
should not properly possess them.
He also referred to the risk of importation of arms from Muskat in the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,
4. He referred to the difficulty of exercising an affective control over the
transport of arms by sea in native craft, and seemed well aware of the
various devices resorted to for evading restrictions. He said that he had reason
to believe that the Sultan of Rohaita took some part in the illicit arms traffic,
from which he derived considerable profit. This Sultan he stated occupied a
position which rendered it difficult to exercise an effective control over his
littoral. Till recently he had been a tributary of both the french and the
Italian Governments. Upon a recent representation of the latter he had now
ceased to be a Drench tributary.
5. It was suggested to Doctor Ormieres that with a view to further
checking the illicit traffic in arms it was desirable that the different authorities
concerned should act in concert, and the various rules and regulations issued by
them should be as far as possible similar in effect and general principle.
General Swayne handed him a copy of the Somaliland Dire-arms Regulations,
dated 2nd September 1905, and a comparison of this witii the regulations
issued at Jibouti was invited. In reply Doctor Ormikres stated that the orders

About this item

Content

This volume is the second of three successive volumes of correspondence (IOR/L/PS/10/32-34), relating to the British prohibition and suppression of arms traffic between ports in Aden, the Red Sea and the coast of East Africa. The volume contains copies of ‘The Somaliland Registration of Vessels Regulations, 1904’ and the ‘Aden Sea-traffic in Arms Regulation, 1902’. There is substantial correspondence about amending the 1902 regulation, together with revised drafts made in 1907 and 1908. Correspondents are officials at the Foreign 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. and the Admiralty in London and the British Ambassador at Paris, as well as officials in the Government of India Foreign and Political Department and in the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. Political Department. Other notable correspondents are the Commander-in-Chief for the East Indies Station, the Commander and Senior Naval Officer for the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Division, the Senior Naval Officer for the Aden Division, 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. and the First Assistant Resident at Aden, 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 Muscat and the British Commissioner for the Somaliland Protectorate. Included in the correspondence are English translations of several letters sent and received by Sultan Ahmed Fadthl, The Abdali of Yemen (also referred to as the Abdali Sultan) in 1905 and 1907, and also by Said Faisal the Sultan of Oman in 1907.

The volume contains a small amount of correspondence in French, in the form of a letter from the Italian Consul at Aden to the First Assistant Resident at Aden in 1906 and a letter from the French Consul at Muscat to 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 Muscat in 1907. The diplomatic correspondence also includes several English translations of notes from the Italian Ambassador and the Italian Chargé d’Affaires at London, to the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in 1907 and 1908.

The file includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 volume (266 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume. The subject 869 (Arms Traffic: - Red Sea, Africa and Aden) consists of three volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/32-34. The volumes are divided into three parts, with each part comprising one volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 264; 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. The front and back covers, along with the leading and ending flyleaves have not been foliated. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 145-264 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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File 869/1904 Pt 2 'Arms Traffic: - Red Sea, Africa and Aden' [‎89v] (187/540), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100042383033.0x0000bc> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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