IOR/R/15/2/638

The file comprises copies of four separate communications from the British Legation at Jedda, enclosing translated summaries and copies of the Treaty of Taif, agreed between the Saudi ruler ‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd (Ibn Sa‘ūd), and the Yemeni ruler Yaḥyā Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn, to end the 1934 territorial dispute between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The first letter (folios 3-5), from Sir Andrew Ryan, Minister at the British Legation in Jedda, dated 27 June 1934, encloses an annotated summary of the Treaty (folios 6-11), concluded between the Saudi and Yemeni rulers on 6 Safar 1353 (equivalent to 20 May 1934). In his letter, Ryan makes comments on various aspects of the treaty, its wording, and Saudi-Yemeni relations.

The second letter (folios 13-14), from Albert Spencer Calvert at the British Legation in Jedda to Sir John Simon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, dated 30 July 1934, encloses a translated copy of the Treaty of Taif (15-27), a copy of an arbitration covenant between the Saudi Arab Kingdom and Kingdom of Yemen (folios 28-30), and copies of annexed, translated letters (folios 31-35).

The third letter, sent by Chancery at the British Legation in Jedda to the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf, dated 11 September 1934 (folio 37), includes the text of an article to be inserted into the Treaty of Taif, which was missing from the earlier text. A copy of a further letter (folio 39), addressed to the Foreign Office from the British Legation at Jedda, explains the accidental omission.