IOR/L/PS/12/2070

This volume concerns relations between the British Government and Imam Yehia bin Muhammad Hamid Uddin [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn, Imam of Yemen]. Much of the correspondence discusses the progress of treaty negotiations between the British Government and the Imam (a treaty was eventually signed on 11 February 1934). The principal correspondents are the Secretary of State for the Colonies (Philip Cunliffe-Lister), the Political Resident at Aden (Bernard Rawdon Reilly – also referred to as the Chief Commissioner at Aden – and, in Reilly's absence, the Acting Political Resident, Reginald Stuart Champion), the British Ambassador to Italy (Ronald William Graham, succeeded by Sir James Eric Drummond), His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires at Jedda (Albert Spencer Calvert), the Imam of Yemen, and various officials of the India Office, the Colonial Office, and the Foreign Office.

Matters discussed in the correspondence include:

• Whether the Government of India should be included as a signatory of the proposed treaty.
• Reports of Yemeni incursions (referred to as 'tax raids' – armed incursions made with a view to collecting taxes on behalf of the Imam) into the Subeihi district of the Aden Protectorate.
• An ultimatum, issued by the British Government to the Imam, requesting the withdrawal of forces and the return of hostages, with a threat of aerial bombardment in the event of the Imam's non-compliance.
• Concerns that any action taken by the British against the Imam might be interpreted both by Italy and by Saudi Arabia as encouraging Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] in his dispute with the Imam.
• Details of the precise terms of the proposed treaty, and of the Political Resident's mission to San'a for the resumption of treaty negotiations with the Imam.
• The British precondition that, prior to the treaty being signed, the Imam must remove all restrictions on overland trade between Yemen and the Aden Protectorate, as well as surrender the territories and subjects of those chiefs who are in treaty relations with the British.
• Arrangements for the ratification of the treaty.
• An enquiry from the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society, regarding whether the proposed treaty will include an article committing the Imam to taking action against slavery.

In addition to correspondence, the volume includes the following:

• Copies of minutes from meetings of the Imperial Defence Committee's Standing Official Sub-Committee for questions concerning the Middle East, which discuss Britain's relations with the Imam.
• Extracts from the Aden Political Residency's political intelligence summaries.
• A map of the Aden Protectorate.

The French material in this volume consists of one telegram. All of the material in this volume covers the period 1933-1934, with the exception of the aforementioned map of the Aden Protectorate, which is dated 1930.

The volume includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence.