§ Mr. KNIGHTasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can give any information as to the terms of the treaty settlement concluded recently with the Imam of the Yemen?
§ Mr. D. G. SOMERVILLEasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he can make any statement as to the nature of the agreement which has resulted from the recent British mission to Sanaa?
§ Sir J. SIMONYes, Sir. Lengthy negotiations have resulted in the signature at Sanaa, the capital of the Yemen, on 11th February, by Lieut.-Colonel Reilly, the resident at Aden, and representatives762W of the Imam of the Yemen, of a treaty of friendship between the United Kingdom and India on the one hand and the Yemen on the other. Lieut.-Colonel Reilly has reported that, before the treaty was signed, the conditions attached by His Majesty's Government in the United Kindom to their consent to the conclusion of the treaty had been fulfilled. These comprised the evacuation of those portions of the territory of the Aden Protectorate which were still in Yemeni occupation; the release by the Imam of certain subjects of the chiefs of the Aden Protectorate; and the raising of restrictions which had been placed by the Imam on overland trade between the Protectorate and the Yemen.
The full text of the treaty as signed has not been received; but its main object is to settle the question of the frontier between the Aden Protectorate and the Yemen: and this has been done by a mutual undertaking providing for the maintenance of the situation in regard to the frontier as it existed on the date of signature, and for the prevention of any violation of this frontier pending negotiations for its final settlement, which are to be initiated before the expiration of the present treaty. The treaty is to remain in force for 40 years. It will be laid before Parliament before ratification. His Majesty's Government regard this settlement as most satisfactory, and consider that it reflects great credit on Lieut.-Colonel Reilly.