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Coll 6/7(2) 'The Yemen: Relations between H.M.G. and the Yemen.' [‎81v] (173/732)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (362 folios). It was created in 16 Jun 1932-21 Sep 1933. 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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407 The Imam of [ LORDS ]
tain result of our present weakness. I
think every competent person would isa;y
that under such circumstances it would
be necessary then to increase the Aden
garrison. The Aden garrison has been
tremendously reduced during the last few
years—I do not say over-reduced, btili
it has been reduced very largely, and now
consists of 200 gunners, a squadron of the
Air Force and the 200 men of the Aden
Protectorate levy. If those territories
come under the authority and control of
the Imam of the Yemen undoubtedly the
Aden garrison will be insufficient.
Our prestige, has been so weakened of
late that these are very possible conse
quences. I have no hostile feeling my
self towards the Imam. On the many
occasions on which I have wearied Y ? 111
Lordships’ House in reference to the Aden
Protectorate, I have always been rather
his upholder, and have said that I thought
he had not been well handled; but since
my visit to Aden I have realised what a
monstrous act of aggression it has been
on his part to seize this territory and to
remain there without protest from us, or
at any rate without any direct action fi om
us. Every year the position worsens and
becomes more difficult to deal with. The
treaty which has been the general theme
of any remarks I have made in the past
in connection with the Aden Protectorate
—the treaty between ourselves and the
Imam—has not been advanced, I am
sure, by our reluctance to take strong
measures and tell the Imam that unless
he evacuates this territory and releases
these prisoners we will not entertain any
idea of a treaty with him. Had we taken
that line I think we should have been
able to negotiate a proper treaty with
him, but with this pitiful example of
weakness on our part it is not unnatural
that he should treat us with contempt.
He has done nothing to release these un
fortunate prisoners or to withdraw his
troops from the land to which he has no
right whatever. I hope to hear from
the noble Earl who is to reply that action
will be taken by His Majesty’s Govern
ment. In the meanwhile I beg to move
for Papers.
the Yemen
the noble Lord, Lord Lamington, has i e .
ferred. I do not think it is necessary for
me to go into that history. I Woulc [
rather confine myself to the specific quej.
tions which the noble Lord has raised on
the Motion that he has put down upon
the Paper. At the same time I think, in
connection with these specific areas, it j s
necessary to recount some of the past
history of the case. As the noble Lord
told your Lordships the Imam is the
head of the Zaidi sect o Islam
and now rules over a large territon-
in South-West Arabia. The Yemen ^
under the Turks from 1871 to 1918.
Between 1903 and 1905 the boundary was
delineated between the Aden Protectorate
and the Turkish territory in a series of
agreements, and in 1914 these agreements
were combined in one single convention,
In 1918, as the noble Lord has told yon
at the end of the War, the Turks si
occupied a part of the Aden Protectorate.
They were never fifljtually ejected hy
force of arms but after the Armistice
they were eventually negotiated out of it,
When that took place the Imam took over
control, or rather took the place of the
Turks in the Yemen, and I think it may
be truthfully said that he has consistently
refused to recognise the Anglo-Turkish
boundary which had previously been
delineated.
! ivas
Chid)
chose.
re# 1
. that
irthe
the do*
IfSiW, *'
'** »> tb “
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JisWl
The PARLIAMENTARY UNDER
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE
COLONIES (The Earl of Plymouth)
My Lords, there is a great deal of his
tory, both ancient and recent, in connec
tion with this part of Arabia to which
Lord Lamington.
To come to the specific events to which
the noble Lord has referred, it was in
1924 that the Zaidi troops occupied the
upper country of the Audali tribe. This
tribe—to answer the noble Lord’s
specific question—is under British protec
tion by virtue of a Treaty signed in 1914.
In 1925 the Imam invaded the lower
Audali country. The Imam’s troops were
at once dislodged from the lower portion
of the Audali country by air action, but
eff orts to reach the same success in the
upper portion of the territory failed,
think the failure was very largely due to
the fact that the Audalis themselves
failed to co-operate properly with the
Air Force. Then, in 1926, hostilities
were suspended during a Mission of Sir
Gilbert Clayton to Sana’a but the object:
of that Mission eventually broke down on
the question of the evacuation of occupied
Protectorate territory by the Imam.
About that time the Audali Chief f
it expedient to come to terms with the
Zaidis. This action was, however, re
pudiated by the inhabitants of the
southern portion of the territory. They
ii0 11 .
lit> eSlgning
nnW COD 16 ^
rtitis d the ImM
Ori
relea
p
Ilife* time
tlo w a
Ijpfiiintfy,
on tit i®®®
flier ilia &e
of
lei, do is Eesidi
lie ka las expres
ti apt toil these i
Mt to ie part of
|estk as to whetl
an; prarocation on
life ftich can b
iiH to justify the
ItliKftere is real
it Ills Zaidi in
? was entire
i ws probal
iffltion on tb
wny, fie mt
^rincidents-tl
■Hy the Auda
■^tlat can onl
^tttion whatsoi
; 1 the
s ®e time,

About this item

Content

This volume concerns relations between the British Government and Imam Yehia bin Muhammad Hamid Uddin [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn, Imam of Yemen]. It documents (from a British perspective) the progress of treaty negotiations between Britain and Yemen. Much of the correspondence discusses the terms of the proposed treaty between Britain and Yemen, including a contested third article from a draft treaty proposed by the Imam, which relates both to the southern frontier of Yemen and to the Imam's claim to a number of unspecified islands situated in the Red Sea (referred to as 'the Islands of Yemen' in the Imam's draft treaty).

Other items of discussion related to the proposed treaty include:

  • Whether India should be a separate signatory of the proposed treaty.
  • Whether the Imam is likely to consent to the establishment of special tribunals for the practice of a privileged code of law for foreign nationals in Yemen.
  • The British precondition that, prior to the treaty being signed, the Imam must remove all restrictions on overland trade between Yemen and the Aden Protectorate, as well as surrender the territories and subjects of those chiefs who are in treaty relations with the British.
  • The possibility of the appointment of a permanent British representative at San'a.

The volume's main correspondents are the following: 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 Commander-in-Chief (later referred to as the Chief Commissioner) at Aden (Bernard Rawdon Reilly and his Acting Resident, Reginald Stuart Champion), the Imam of Yemen, the Secretary of State for the Colonies (Philip Cunliffe-Lister), and officials 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. , the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office, and the War Office respectively.

In addition to correspondence, the volume also includes the following:

  • Copies of minutes from meetings of the Imperial Defence Committee's Standing Official Sub-Committee for questions concerning the Middle East, which discuss the proposed treaty with Yemen.
  • A copy of a report of an eighteen-day British medical mission (comprised of two doctors, two nurses, and Lieutenant-Colonel Morice Challoner Lake) to Taiz [Ta‘izz] in late 1931 and early 1932, which was undertaken for the purpose of treating the daughter-in-law of Seyyid 'Ali of Taiz, son-in-law of the Imam.
  • A copy of a report of Lake's subsequent visit to San'a in January 1932, which recounts in detail his conversations with the Imam.
  • Copies of both a draft treaty and a 'retabulated' draft treaty, drafted by the British in response to the Imam's initial draft treaty.
  • Copies of political intelligence summaries from the 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 volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 volume (362 folios)
Arrangement

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

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 358; 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 two leading and two ending flyleaves have not been foliated. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 315-358; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.

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English in Latin script
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Coll 6/7(2) 'The Yemen: Relations between H.M.G. and the Yemen.' [‎81v] (173/732), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2069, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100049026062.0x0000ae> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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