Ext 6588/47 'Air action in Aden Protectorate: copy of Secretary of State for Colonies minute to PM, 9 May 1947: note by External Department on Bombing on North West Frontier' [‎21r] (41/46)

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( iii) Tne coaclitioas under which air actioti is used
The conditions which must he fulfilled before punitive
air action is authorised and which have always been
observed, were formally defined and laid down in 1943
as follows.-
( 1 ) 4 -j.ir action is a sanction which must be used
sparingly and only when no milder alternative
forta of punishment is likely to be effective.
(2) It should not be used without giving delinquents
an option of avoiding it by making submission and
giving adequate guarantees of future good behaviour*
(3) There should be clear and specific charges which
the offenders should be required to answer before
any penalities are imposed upon them.
(4) /hen the culprit is a Treaty Chief it is important
that action against him should if possible avoid
breach between Government and his tribe as a whole.
In regard to the incident on the Ahwar-Habban road the
Governor reports that the first three conditions are
fulfilled while the fourth does not apply.
(iv) The Question of future policy
The Governor has requested, in the light of the
stir created by air action against the tribes on the North
West Frontier of India last September, reassurance that the
policy governing the use of air action against recalcitrant
tribes in the Aden Protectorate remains unchanged, and
whether the previous instructions regarding the use of air
action against hostile Yemeni forces encroaching over thv.
Protectorate border, and against Yemeni bases, still
holds good. These latter instructions, issued in 1938
were to the effect that His bapiesty s Government did not in
principle rule cut the possibility of--
( 1 ) issuing an ultimatum threatening air action against
Yemeni bases or (2) taking such action in the event of
Yemeni encroachment, but could not give general authority
in advance to adopt either of these two courses. If any
situation arose which in the Governor’s opinion rendered
either course necessary, specific sanction should be sought
from London. In September 1943 His Majesty’s Government
agreed in principle to authority being given to threaten,
and in the last resort to apply, force to secure the
withdrawal of Yemeni troops from the territory of Aden
Protectorate. In no circumstances, however, was force
to be used outside the Protectorate without specific
authority from the Secretary of State being first obtained.
( v ) Views of the Foreign Ofrice and Air Ministry
In view of possible interest
particularly of the internattonal
in so far as it related to Yemeni
Office and Air Ministry have been
of U.II. 0. , and
aspect, of the question
activities, the Foreign
consulted.