File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎343r] (694/834)

— 97 —
Further evidence of the inutility of our blockade has been
received by the Assistant Resident, Perim, who states that he
was informed by the Sheikh of Kokha’s messenger that seventy
dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. loads of coffee, skins, ghee, dates, etc., are exported
monthly from there to Jibuti. This may be an exaggeration,
but the Resident, Aden, points out that it confims information
from other sources that dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. traffic is carried on with Jibuti.
Reports of fighting in the Hubeish country have been
received from several sources. Seif el Islam Ahmed 1 .bn Qasim
is said to have sent demands for taxes from the Ahl Hubeish
and to have despatched Zeidi troops to enforce them. Anti-
Zeidi partisan reports state that the Al Hubeish, assisted by
the people of Ibb, Udein, and other villages, defeated these
troops in two conflicts, and, according to one informant, the
Seif el Islam was ultimately surrounded at Ibb.
Four hundred Zeidi troops are rumoured to have entered
Qatabah, where they invited the people to submit to the Imam,
but the townspeople refused and a fight ensued, in which twenty
casualties occurred on each side.
Upper Yemen.
Further details have been received of the plot (see page
65 of last number) to supplant the Imam by Mohammed Muhsin
el Mutawakkil, whose claims are said to be supported by the
Ahl Hubeish and most of the Lower Yemenites. Seyyid Ahmed
ibn Yahya of Kibs took to Aden a number of recommendatory
letters from both Zeidi and Shafai chiefs. He stated, however,
that it was not intended that this Seif el Islam should actually
become Imam, but merely that he should be placed in authority
pending the election of a new Imam, the two most suitable candi
dates being (according to El Kibsi) Sherif Mohammed ibn
Abdullah el Dhayyani and Seyyed Mohammed ibn El Hadi
Sharafuddin, alias Abu Neb (Emir of Udaqah), both of whom
are regarded as men of straw by Colonel Jacob. El Kibsi said
the scheme originated amongst the Zeidis, the Idrisi being
approached subsequently on account of his influence with
the British Government, whose assistance in promoting the
scheme was hoped for. Under an arrangement with Ibn el
Mutawakkil, the Idrisi was to extend his control over the Lower
Yemen. As intimated in the last number of the Bulletin, it was
decided to refuse our assistance, and both Seyyid Ahmed and
Mohammed el Mutawakkil have been informed accordingly.
An agent sent to Sanaa by the Political Officer, Hodeidah,
-reports that early in April he saw 100 to 500 Hashid tribesmen
arriving there' daily for enlistment in the Imam’s army. Over