§ 35. Mr. Brockwayasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the progress of the attempt to secure negotiations for the definition of the Aden-Yemen frontier.
§ 37. Mr. J. Johnsonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what steps he is taking to implement the provision of the 1951 exchange of notes with the Yemen Government, that various disputed parts of the de facto frontier between the Yemen and the Aden Protectorate should be demarcated on the ground by a joint Anglo-Yemen Commission.
§ Mr. Selwyn LloydThe question of frontier demarcation is bound up with the more urgent problem of first restoring peaceful conditions along the whole frontier. On 12th February a Note was handed to the Yemeni Chargé d'Affaires proposing that talks should begin on 23rd February or any other early date at Mukeiras or Sanah in the Aden Protectorate. A reply was received from the Yemeni Charge d'Affaires on the evening of 26th February, that is to say last night, and is now being studied.
§ Mr. BrockwayIs the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that many of those who are following events in the Yemen are very disturbed by the methods which are being adopted and by their effects, as illustrated in the bombing of the village of Danaba when, one admits gladly, notice was given of the bombing but where, on a village of 120 people, 96 500 lb. bombs were dropped? Does the Minister not think that in view of these facts we should make some effort to brings these negotiations to a peaceful settlement?
§ Mr. LloydI cannot admit what the hon. Member has suggested about this method of seeking to keep law and order. I am told that there are 16 houses in the village, and repeated warnings were given. In many ways proceeding in this way after due warning is the best method of dealing with a difficult problem. I entirely agree with the hon. Member, however, that we want to have these negotiations set on foot and completed as quickly as possible, We want a state of affairs in which the frontier has been demarcated, and we have been anxious over a period of years to get that done.
§ Mr. JohnsonIs it not a fact that the Yemen Government have never accepted the existence of a boundary between Yemen and Aden, and does the Minister not think that, whether there is pacification or otherwise in the near future, the matter had better be put in 1231 the hands of a third party and that a United Nations commission should go there and look at the matter impartially above the participants now locked in combat?