Coll 6/7(2) 'The Yemen: Relations between H.M.G. and the Yemen.' [‎82r] (174/732)

d,L f The Imam of [ 28 June 1933 ] the Yemen 410
' elected another Chief, a minor, and an
0 tfcat uncle of his was chosen as Regent. To-
^elltot day the position remains almost exactly
16 l i; same— that is, that the Imam’s troops
lat li e
the i
still occupy the northern portion of the
Audali territory, whereas the southern
4 these ^ portion of that territory is under a Chief
re Wuiit ,vho is independent but who, of course, is
J ease, y'. aider the protection of the British. In
ttdshb 927 a very serious warning was given
ie Zaidi Ll^o t he Imam. His reply on that occasion
les over vas a^fcciliatory one, a pacific one. He
it Arabia, offered negotiate with regard to these
lurks , various matters, and it was at that time
and 1 , • • decided to pursue the method of negotia-
tw ee - •' T; . don in dealing with these questions. The
dsh evacuation of the Audali territory was at
mdi- the same time made an absolute pre-
id A requisite of the signing of any Treaty.
he noblelJ. Let me now oome to atlot I ler P art of
the War,
of the Aia}|
never
entnallv
■ather took !e
Yemen, i
:he noble Lord’s Question, with regard to
he Protectorate tribesmen who are still
prisoners of the Imam. It is perfectly
rue that he still has a number of tribes-
ailn nen as prisoners. Originally, I believe,
ne - :fc hhere were something like forty. One is
-’eported to have died, two have escaped,
eight have been released on the repre
sentation of the Resident at Aden, and
said that hen [ think that some time in 1931 one other
M'Ogmse the W as a member of the Audali
hich had R e g e nt’s own family, was also released
Dn the intercession of the Political
i the specie e-:P fficer at Aden - The release of the re "
3 rd has reie- raining prisoners has also been made an
e" Zaidi ©?•' absolute condition of the signing of a
: ; Treaty and I understand from Colonel
n . wer Reilly, who is Resident at Aden, that
he Imam has expressed his willingness
hil^aT "' 0 acce Pt doth these conditions. Then I
1 He" :ome ! ^ e P ar I °I the noble Lord’s
i" Question as to whether there has been
:rv, iheiiai:^ , , p „
. . my provocation on the part oi tne
“ ‘ . i Yudalis which can be in any way con-
idered to justify the action of the Imam.
think there is really little doubt that
he Imam’s Zaidi incursion into Audali
erritory was entirely unprovoked. 1
hink it was probably actuated by the
letermination on the part of the Imam
' lot to recognise the Anglo-Turkish
tided '' poundary. He made an excuse of
ytonto' rontier incidents—that trouble had been
sion evffi nude by the Audali tribesmen—but I
o. of th e Td '- hink that can only be considered an
;e temc excuse, and that in fact there was no
: time tie A , r ovocation whatsoever oh the part of
it to e - he Audalis.
action
fit
^ At the same time, it has to be admitted
bv the hat the present divided control does
ortionof^
naturally lead to difficulties and to
trouble. The noble Lord said that he
had recently heard that the Audali
Sultan had stated that unless something
was done he would himself go to war
with the troops of the Imam. I can
only say that we have no information on
that point. This is the first time that I
have heard such a suggestion made. T
want to impress upon your Lordships
that the recovery of Audali territory is
definitely linked up with treaty negotia
tions. Your Lordships may very rightly
ask what is the position with regard to
those treaty negotiations and how long
are they likely to last. I can assure your
Lordships that these negotiations have
reached an advanced stage. There may
be certain obstacles to the conclusion of
a treaty and there have been difficulties
in regard to a certain article of the draft
treaty. It is really not necessary to go
into details—I am sure your Lordships
would not desire me to do so—but I
would like to inform the House that cer
tain concessions in regard to that par
ticular article have been offered to the
Imam in order to try to facilitate a
settlement.
Personally I have no doubt, and I
think the noble Lord will agree with me
on this point, that much of the difficulty
in connection with this treaty arises
owing to the desire of the Imam to secure
recognition in that treaty, in some form
or another, of his claim to at least a
certain portion of the Aden Protectorate
which he looks upon as his ancestral
domain. I have made inquiries into past
history and I am assured that the
ancestors of the Imam only occupied this
territory for a very short period in the
eighteenth century. The territory is
now inhabited by a number of Shafia
tribes who are, and have been for many
years, in treaty relations with the United
Kingdom. I feel sure, therefore, that
your Lordships will agree that in these
circumstances it is inconceivable to admiu
any claim on the part of the Imam to
jurisdiction over these people.
There is another difficulty in connec
tion with the conclusion of this treaty
which arises over certain islands in the
Southern Red Sea. The difficulty about
these islands is that by the Treaty of
Lausanne the future of these islands is
left to be settled by the parties con
cerned. Therefore it is quite clear that