ADEN PROTECTORATE. (Hansard, 28 November 1928)

THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (THE EARL OF ONSLOW)

My Lords, as my noble friend has said he has raised this Question once or twice before in your Lordships' House. I think the last time he raised it was in February or March of this year. Since that time, when my noble friend Lord Lovat replied on behalf of the Government, considerable progress has been made towards a settlement with the Imam. Last spring the Zeidis, who are the inhabitants of the Yemen, had their headquarters at a place called Kataba, which is just over the line delimited in 1904 as the frontier between the Aden Protectorate and what was then Turkish territory. They kidnapped the Alawi sheikh and a relative of the Koteidi sheikh. Both these sheikhs are sheikhs of tribes which are situated in the Aden Protectorate. The result of this was that the Zeidis were bombed at Kataba and the two men who were kidnapped were released and returned home. After that a thirty days' truce was granted to the Imam who sent information that he wanted to negotiate with a representative of His Majesty's Government. The Resident heard also that the Imam was willing to withdraw his forces from the whole of the Protectorate, though in fact he had not got a letter from the Imam to that effect and the information was not substantiated.

349 In April a representative of His Majesty's Government, Major T. C. Fowler, who was acting Political Representative at Aden, went to a place called Taiz and met a representative of the Imam. Taiz is in Yemen territory about twenty miles north-north-east of the delimited frontier. At that place conversations took place, but an agreement was not reached, and so, in order to allow the negotiations to go on, the truce was extended. Unfortunately, the Imam's representatives continued to procrastinate and no agreement looked like being reached. It appeared to be clear that the Imam was merely playing for time and was not seriously endeavouring to come to an agreement. Notwithstanding that, it was proposed that the truce should be further extended on the understanding that the town of Dhala should be evacuated by the Imam by June 20.

Dhala is the principal town in the protected area which was occupied by the Imam's forces; it is situated on the trade route and it is a weekly market. The Imam, however, did not comply with this request. He did not evacuate Dhala and so the truce was suspended and air action was taken against the Zeidis forces both in the Protectorate and in the Yemen itself. The result of the action was that the Imam withdrew all his forces from the Dhala area and now he has evacuated all the country within the Aden Protectorate, the frontier of which was definitely delimited in 1904. However, he still remained in part of Yafa and about half the Audauli country, which is situated within the Protectorate, though the actual frontier line has never been actually delimited by a Commission such as the Fitzmaurice Commission in 1904.

In September the Resident at Aden received a letter from the Imam indicating his willingness to re-open negotiations, and an invitation was sent to him to send a representative to Aden to confer with the Resident there as to the terms of a preliminary agreement. We proposed that His Majesty's Government should recognise the complete independence of the Yemen, and that in the preliminary agreement there should be a clause relating to the boundary and a definition of the actual situation of the boundary at the date of the Treaty. A full power has been prepared to 350 enable the Resident to negotiate with the Imam and we have been in frequent communication with the Resident as to the terms to be discussed. I mentioned just now that the Imam has withdrawn his forces over the actual delimited frontier so that now the de jure frontier, the old Anglo-Turkish frontier, is in fact the frontier. If recognition of this frontier can be obtained and further frontier incidents can be avoided, it will be possible to take up the various points of detail which may be at issue between the Government and the Imam, and it is hoped that we may be able to come to an understanding with him.

I may say that harvesting operations are going on quietly, and that the weekly market at Dhala is in full swing and attracting people from over the border. The last time this Question was raised the noble Earl, Lord Glasgow, was here, and he mentioned the question of the Makalla trade route. I have reason to believe that that is functioning all right. The noble Lord's Motion is to lay Papers. I cannot help thinking that after what I have been able to say he will agree that it would be inadvisable to lay any Papers at the present juncture. We are hoping to bring negotiations with the Imam to a successful conclusion within a reasonable time and I think it would be obviously undesirable to publish Papers while negotiations are going on in case they might prejudice the success of the negotiations.

§ LORD LAMINGTON

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for the very satisfactory answer which he has given me. It only now remains for our negotiations to be carried on with the Imam in a friendly fashion. We must recognise that he had a distinct grievance against us after the Armistice. We behaved foolishly and most unfairly to him, and I think that if his feelings can be soothed in that direction a great deal will have been done. As I indicated in my first remarks, I think also that if there is some recognition that he has hereditary rights over Southern Arabia that also will be gratifying to his self-respect. I need not detain your Lordships any longer. I am very pleased indeed with what has been done in this important matter. Other countries are trying to enter into close relationship with the Imam of the 351 Yemen and therefore we do not desire to neglect our opportunities in this matter if we can possibly avoid it. I beg leave to withdraw the Motion.