HC Deb 11 February 1929 vol 225 cc15-6
20. Mr. MALONE

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether any conversations are proceeding with the object of concluding a treaty with the Imam of the Yemen?

Mr. AMERY

According to my present information, the answer is in the negative. The position is that, in September last, a communication was received by the Resident at Aden from the Imam of the Yemen, intimating his readiness to re-open negotiations; and that the Resident, in reply, invited the Imam to send a representative to Aden to confer with him as to the terms of a preliminary agreement. It was proposed that this agreement should include, on the one hand, a recognition by His Majesty's Government of the complete independence of the Yemen and the Imam's sovereignty, and, on the other hand, a clause relating to the frontier of the Aden Protectorate, and defining the actual situation on the boundary. It was hoped that, if a preliminary agreement on those points could he arrived at, a more comprehensive treaty might be drawn up subsequently, disposing of such other disputed questions of detail as might then remain outstanding. A full power has been prepared and forwarded to the Resident, authorising him to negotiate a preliminary agreement on the proposed lines, but, so far as I am aware, the Imam has not yet despatched any representative to Aden.

Mr. MALONE

Has the Imam not replied that he does not wish to negotiate with the Aden authorities?

Mr. AMERY

No, Sir. I do not think the Imam has replied to that effect.