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Coll 6/4(2) 'Asir: Relations between Saudi Arabia and the Yemen.' [‎55v] (117/796)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (394 folios). It was created in 9 Aug 1933-19 Apr 1934. 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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2
3
8. I have no further news regarding Saudi military preparations. The
three barges are still lying peacefully off Jedda. The most significant pieces of
information given me by Fuad Bey were that, when war seemed imminent, it wa;S
intended to send the Amir Feisal, the King’s son, to the fi’ont, and that
Ibn Rubaiyan, the Ateyba leader, had marched south. You will have seen froip^.
the Koweit intelligence reports that this chieftain was, m the autumn, supposeu
to be more than half-hearted, but eventually decided to obey the King. Early
in the month it was widely rumoured that the Ateyba at Taif were in a rebellious
mood and were even creating disturbances in the town. Whate\ei the facts, the
Amir Feisal has gone personally to Taif two or three times since the beginning of
January. It may well be that Ibn Rubaiyan s Ateyba have latterly been not so
much disaffected as impatient for action.
9. I am sending copies of this despatch and enclosure to His Majesty’s
Ambassador in Rome and to the Commissioner at Aden.
I have, &c.
ANDREW RYAN.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Note respecting the Saudi-Yemen Situation.
FUAD BEY HAMZA called on me this morning. We had a long conversa
tion, parts of which were rather involved. The following, though not an exact
record, gives the gist of what passed :—
Fuad Bey confirmed what he had told Mr. Calvert yesterday afternoon about
his proposed journey to Abha to meet a representative of the Imam. I asked
whether this was to be the actual conference which had been foreshadowed or
merely a preliminary. Fuad Bey said that, in the intentions of his Government,
it was to be the conference. He added in reply to a further question that he would
have colleagues, but he did not name them; nor did he appear to know of any
Yemeni delegate other than Seyyid Abdullah Ibn Wazir Minister. , the general who has been
in command at Haradh and who has now been called to Sana. News of this gentle
man’s departure for Abha was awaited, and Fuad Bey would then proceed. He
was to go from Mecca by car via Bisha. He hoped to vary his route coming back
and to do some geographical work, but sounded doubtful as to whether he would
venture as far as Najran for this purpose.
I told Fuad Bey that I had been completely mystified by the apparent
discrepancies between the Umm-al-Qura article of the 16th January, and what he
had told me. I said that I now reduced the areas in dispute to three, although
there might be more. Firstly, there was Asir Tihama. Here Ibn Saud was in a
strong position, and my only difficulty was that we had never been told what the
inland boundary of Asir Tihama was. The Saudi Government appeared to be
unwilling to supply this information, though I had given him frequent
opportunities of telling me the effect of the Saudi Idrisi Treaty of 1920. Inverting
the geographical order, I next took Najran, both the history and geography of
which were doubtful. If Fuad Bey was becoming a geographer, I was becoming
an historian, and I could not discover that either of the disputants had really held
Najran in recent times. That was why I favoured the idea of its being made a
neutral area.
Between these two areas I said there was a mountainous region, partly Asir
Tihama and partly Asir Surat, though I could not say wdiere they met. I inferred
from the L 1 mm-al-Qura article that the Beni Malik and Abadil, who appeared to
be now an important bone of contention, were in the highlands of Asir Tihama.
I explained why the account of events in the Umm-al-Qura article had so
baffled me. It almost read as though the Amir Saud had gone off on his own,
though this was in itself incredible. Why, for instance, had so important a
personage got no wireless ?
Fuad Bey observed that if there were any discrepancy between statements of
his and a newspaper article, his own statements must naturally be preferred. He
did not seriously pretend that the article was anything but inspired, but he
intimated that some of the dates might not be quite right. His main line of
defence was, however, that the Imam s actions were quite at variance with his
words. The fact was that at some time before the 9th January the Imam’s
activities among the Beni Malik and Abadil had gone the length of invasion and

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Content

This volume mostly contains copies of Foreign Office correspondence (forwarded by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India) relating to the strained relations between Ibn Sa'ud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] and the Imam of Yemen [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn] and their respective claims to Najran. The volume concludes with reports on the outbreak of war between the two states and the war's early stages.

The correspondence discusses the following:

  • An offer, made to Ibn Sa'ud by King Faisal [Fayṣal bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī] of Iraq, to act as a mediator between Ibn Sa'ud and the Imam of Yemen.
  • The Italian Government's refusal to recognise Ibn Sa'ud's annexation of Asir.
  • An alleged oral agreement regarding the frontiers between Saudi Arabia (then the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd) and Yemen, which is believed to have been concluded between Ibn Sa'ud and the Imam of Yemen in 1927.
  • Reports of the occupation of Badr, Najran, by Yemeni troops.
  • Reports of Saudi troops having crossed the Asir-Yemeni frontier.
  • Anglo-Italian correspondence regarding the status of Asir.
  • Reports of Ibn Sa'ud having issued an ultimatum to the Imam of Yemen.
  • Treaty negotiations between Britain and Yemen.
  • Reports of Saudi-Yemeni negotiations.
  • Italian requests for 'projected discussions' with the British in Rome, regarding matters in Arabia.
  • Details of the outbreak of war between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The volume features the following principal correspondents: the Foreign Office; His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires, Jedda (Albert Spencer Calvert); the British Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan); His Majesty's Ambassador to Italy (Ronald William Graham, succeeded by James Eric Drummond); the Secretary of State for the Colonies [Philip Cunliffe-Lister]; the Minister for Foreign Affairs for Saudi Arabia [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd]; King Faisal of Iraq [Fayṣal bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī]; Ibn Sa'ud; the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Also included are extracts from Aden and Kuwait Political Intelligence summaries, and copies of letters from 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 Kuwait (Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson) 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. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. [Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven William Fowle], regarding public opinion in Kuwait on the Saudi-Yemeni dispute.

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 (394 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 commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last flyleaf with 394; 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. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 327-392 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers.

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English in Latin script
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Coll 6/4(2) 'Asir: Relations between Saudi Arabia and the Yemen.' [‎55v] (117/796), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2065, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100061745075.0x000076> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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