مجموعة ٦/ ٤٧ "اليمن: العلاقات بين إيطاليا وإمام اليمن." [و‎‎٧‎٧] (١٨٥/١٥٣)

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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
EASTERN (Arabia).
September 1, 1936.
CONFIDENTIAL.
v
fE 5515/2617/91]
Section 2.
Copy No.
Mr. Ingram to Mr. Eden.—(Received September 1.)
(No. 950.)
Sir, ^ Rome, August
I HAVE the honour to inform you that, according to a recent Stefani
communique, the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce between Italy and the
Yemen dated the 2nd September, 1926, the text of which was enclosed in Mr. (now
Sir Charles) Wingfield’s despatch from this Embassy, No. 846 of the 4th October,
1926, has been extended until November 1937 by an exchange of notes between
the two Governments. I shall not fail to supply you with the text of these notes
as soon as they are published in the Official Gazette.
2. The extension of this treaty has been the occasion of considerable comment
in the press here. An article in the Popolo di Roma recalls that the important
points established by the treaty were the declaration by the Government of the
Yemen of their willingness to import technical material from Italy and to admit
Italian experts into the country to assist in its economic development, and the
declaration by the Italian Government of their willingness to grant facilities in
this sense. When the treaty was concluded (continues the writer of the article)
a number of Arab journals expressed the fear that Italy was planning to turn
the Yemen into a zone of exclusive Italian influence and that the provisions of
the treaty were not compatible with the full independence of that country. The
ten years which have lapsed since the treaty was signed have been sufficient to
explode this myth. Not only does the agreement not impinge in any way on the
liberty of action of the Yemen Government, who are not obliged by it to accept
Italian materials or experts against their wishes and whose liberty to purchase
in whatever market they wish is expressly reserved, but Italy’s policy since the
signature has given rise to no suspicions that she has any other designs in the
country than those compatible with true friendship.
3. In an article in the Messaggero it is stated that the prolongation of the
treaty corresponds with the plans of the Italian Government for the development
and maintenance of peaceful relations with the countries on the eastern coast of
the Red Sea, where there exists a long tradition of commercial exchange and
affinity of custom and religion with Ethiopia. Italy is determined, says the
writer of this article, through relations of ‘ £ bon-voisinage ” maintained with
these States, to contribute by all the means in her power to their progress and
civilisation. She has no designs on their independence or their autonomy. This
policy ‘ c is an aspect of the Italian Empire which will assume more and more
importance as time goes on and which fits in perfectly with the programme of
relations between Italy and the Orient on which the Duce insisted in two
memorable speeches." The speeches to which reference is here made appear to
be those which he pronounced at the opening of the Congress of Asiatic Students
in December 1933, a summary of which was enclosed in Sir Eric Drummond's
despatch N o 990 of the 22nd December of that year, and his discourse before
the second Quinquennial Fascist Assembly (a translation of this speech was
enclosed by his Excellency in his despatch N o 245. of the 19th March, 1934). I
venture to draw your particular attention to the portions of this speech in which
Signor Mussolini touches on the role that Italy was designed by history and
geography to play in Asia and Africa. Recent events give his words a peculiar
significance.
4. Thus it Will be seen that the renewal of the treaty between Italy and
the Yemen has been made the occasion for ^ number of inspired articles
illustrating the role of patron and friend which Italy aspires to play and which
she believes she has already begun to play in the Near East. Collaboration with
the Arab races, as the Giornale d'Italia observes, is to be developed to the mutual
advantage of both parties. The conquest of Ethiopia, it is said, has been a great
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