IOR/L/PS/12/2089

This file, which consists of copies of Foreign Office and Colonial Office correspondence, concerns relations between France and the Imam of Yemen [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn], and French claims to Sheikh Said [Ra’s Shaykh Sa‘īd].

Matters discussed in the correspondence include the following:

• The attitude that should be adopted by the British Government in the event of the French Government according official recognition to the Imam of Yemen.
• Details of a Treaty of Friendship between France and Yemen, signed on 25 April 1936.
• French claims to Sheikh Said (which reportedly rest on an agreement made in 1868 with local chiefs, and on a treaty with the Ottoman Government, signed in 1870).
• British concerns regarding the possibility of an Italian occupation of Sheikh Said.
• The Imam's decision to import arms for the fortification of Sheikh Said.

The principal correspondents are His Majesty's Ambassador in Paris (Ronald Hugh Campbell), His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan), and officials of the Foreign Office and Colonial Office.

In addition to correspondence, the file includes the following: a copy (in French) of the aforementioned Treaty of Friendship between France and Yemen (folio 50); a copy of a declaration (also in French) between France and Yemen, regarding Sheikh Said, dated 18 July 1936 (folio 5).

The French material in the file consists of the aforementioned treaty and declaration (plus draft copies of the declaration) and several copies of a memorandum addressed to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs by the French Ambassador in London.

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