File 1166/1925 'Arabia: Nejd; negotiations with Ibn Saud regarding Iraq-Nejd question and Trans-Jordan boundary; Sir G Clayton's mission; Bahra agreement, 2nd November, 1925' [‎127r] (260/769)

Language.
13. I must explain that, although the original draft was in English
and Ibn Sa‘ud agreed (not, however, without discussion) that, in
case of divergence, the English text should prevail, I was obliged in
deciding the final wording of the Agreement, to take into account
the Arabic text. Had the English version been the only one to be
consideied, the final text might have been different in places; but I
considered it essential that both the Arabic and the English texts
should attain the same degree of clarity, even at the cost of a certain
sacrilice of idiom.
14. Lastly, I would refer to the correspondence exchanged on the
subject of the demilitarisation of Kaf (Annexure 9). His Highness
had asked me in conversation to define in greater detail the provisions
of Article 2 of the Agreement, and afterwards requested that his
questions and my answ’ers should be recorded.
Questions Relating to ‘Iraq.
Agreement concluded.
15. The discussion of the questions relating to ‘Iraq was opened
at my fifth formal meeting with the Sultan on the 15th October.
I did not encounter as great difficulty in the discussion of these
questions as in those affecting Trans-Jordan. The main obstacle
lay in Ibn Sa'ud’s urgent demand for the surrender of refugee tribes,
wherein he showed himself so insistent that I judged it necessary at
that meeting to give him the choice between an abatement of his
demands and a rupture. The threat had the desired effect in that
it caused Ibn Sa‘ud to assent, there and then, to my suggestion of
continuing the discussion on the basis of a draft Agreement. Having
made it clear to him that the only degree of extradition I could admit
was that of common criminals, I presented him with a draft (see
Annexure 10), and after two further meetings in which the question
of refugee tribes was again brought up by him in a last attempt to
secure their extradition, agreement on the main points of principle
was reached. My own draft and a counter-draft prepared by Ibn
Sa'ud (Annexure 10) were then examined in committee with his
advisers, and an instrument to be known as the Bahra Agreement
(Annexure 11) was drawn up and signed on the 1st November, 1925.
Substance of Agreement.
16. The main object of this Agreement was to arrive at some
modus vivendi which would, as far as possible, prevent trans-frontier
raiding and ensure peace on the border between ‘Iraq and Nejd. Its
provisions are based mainly on the instructions contained in the
Colonial Office letter of the 10th September, 1925,* and the High
Commissioner for ‘Iraq’s despatch of the 12th March, 1925,t and
they embody all the points that were agreed upon at the Kuwait
Conference (Articles 1, 5, 6 and 7), with the single exception of the
proposal for the appointment of Inspectors of Boundaries, which
seems to me (as to the High Commissioner for ‘Iraq) a proposal of
doubtful efficacy. With regard to the two points which had caused
a deadlock at the Kuwait Conference, namely, the extradition of
refugee tribes and the conditions on which armed contingents might
* Appendix.
f 13496/25 ; not printed.