IOR/L/PS/12/2068

This volume concerns relations between the British Government and Imam Yehia bin Muhammad Hamid Uddin [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn, Imam of Yemen]. It largely consists of correspondence between the Political Resident at Aden (Sir George Stewart Symes, succeeded by Bernard Rawdon Reilly) and officials of the India Office, the Colonial Office and the Foreign Office. Also included are copies of correspondence between the Political Resident and the Imam.

The correspondence includes the following subject matter:

• The Imam's wish to conclude a treaty between Yemen and Britain, and British objections to some of the Imam's terms for a proposed treaty, such as the Imam's demand for the recognition of his sovereignty over the tribes of the Aden Protectorate.
• The Imam's refusal to accept the boundaries of the Aden Protectorate, as laid down between Britain and the Ottoman Empire before the First World War.
• The possibility of sending a British official representative to visit the Imam, with the objective of establishing a 'clearer understanding of each other's policy and aims'.
• Discussion as to how the British should respond to reports that the Imam's troops have occupied Al 'Ain [Am ‘Ayn] (a group of villages in the Wadi Beihan [Wādī Bayḩān] region, deemed by the British to be part of the Aden Protectorate), with a threat of aerial bombardment being among the considered options.
• Discussion of matters that the British may wish to raise in treaty negotiations with the Imam, including the evacuation of the Imam's troops from the districts of Audhali and Sanah [Sanāh, near Qa‘ţabah], and the Sultan of Upper Yafa's claim to Rube'aten.

Also included in the volume are the following:

• Copies of the Aden Residency's Political Intelligence Summaries.
• Minutes from meetings of the Imperial Defence Committee's Standing Official Sub-Committee for questions concerning the Middle East, which discuss British relations with Yemen.
• A copy of a report by Lieutenant-Colonel Morice Challoner Lake recounting his visit to the Wadi Beihan in March 1931.
• A copy of a translation of the Imam of Yemen's proposed terms for a treaty between Britain and Yemen, and several copies of a corresponding British counter draft treaty.
• Copies of memoranda from Air Ministry and War Office representatives.
• Five maps showing disputed territory.

The French material in the volume consists of one letter. Most of the material in this volume covers the period 1931-1932; however, the volume also includes several maps dating from an earlier period, of which the earliest is dated 1906.

The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.