OrderBackgroundBritish Intelligence on Yemen, c. 1940-1967 |
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The Two Yemens, 1940-1967 Since the unification of the Yemen Arab Republic and the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen in 1990, the Republic of Yemen has occupied an important position in the geopolitical landscape of the Arabian Peninsula region and in the wider context of Middle Eastern and international relations. Extending from the Red Sea to the oil fields of south-eastern Arabia it has become both economically and strategically significant in international affairs. Half a century ago, however, in the same region, “Two Yemens” co-existed uneasily side by side, separated by uncertain boundaries and widely different administrations and political aspirations. The British, settled in Aden since 1839, were determined to extend their influence into the outlying areas of the Aden hinterland. British rule was consolidated when Aden became a Colony in 1937 and it was further extended by the development of a specific Protectorate administration, with its Secretariat in Aden and with British Protectorate officials in local posts in the Western and Eastern Aden Protectorates. Anglo-Yemeni relations had been consolidated in the 1930s, after long and tortuous negotiations, with the conclusion of the Treaty of San‘a in 1934. From the outbreak of the Second World War, however, the British became increasingly concerned by the influence in Yemen of other European powers, notably Italy. Between 1940 and the British withdrawal from southern Arabia in 1967, British officials were concerned both to consolidate power and influence in their own sphere of administration and at the same time to gather information and maintain good relations with independent Yemen. The archives of the British Administrations in Aden are a unique source of information, not only on international involvement in the area but also on the internal political, social and commercial development of the entire region. The material in this collection consists of printed and typescript reports and handbooks, maps, memoranda and intelligence reports covering this important period in Yemeni history. The material complements the files in the companion set of IDC Publishers, “British Intelligence on Yemen, c. 1880-1948,” and takes the story up to the end of British colonial rule in Aden in 1967. Handbooks, reports and intelligence summaries reproduced in this collection were almost all classified as Secret, Top Secret, Confidential, or ‘For Official Use Only’. The British Administrations in Aden Formal British relations with Yemen were established in 1839 with the construction of a coaling station at Aden, on the route to India. A British Political Residency, under the administration of the British Government in India, was opened at the same time. Aden became a British Colony in 1937 and in 1963 a High Commission took over the British administrative role in the newly-created South Arabian Federation. On independence in 1967 the British ceded power to the People’s Republic of South Yemen (later the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen). The Aden Archives in the British Library The India Office Records (IOR) form part of the Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections at the British Library. Within the IOR the Aden Records (R/20) are the archives of the successive British administrations in Aden between 1839 and 1967. The papers were created, maintained and preserved in Aden and returned to London in the late 1960s after Independence. They consist of over 12,000 volumes and files as well as maps and printed material. They are now catalogued in seven groups under the references R/20/A-G. Material in this IDC Publishers’ set is drawn from R/20/B (Records of the Secretariat, Government and Colony of Aden, 1937-1962), R/20/C (Files of the Aden Protectorate, 1928-1962), R/20/D (Files of the High Commission for Aden, 1962-1967) and R/20/G (Aden Library, c. 1860-1967). The Aden Archives are unique within the India Office Records collections in that they cover a period extending well beyond the end of the British Empire in India. The material is detailed and extensive although much of it is very fragile. Because of this some files have not survived in their entirety and there are occasional gaps in the sequence of reports. Organisation of the material The material has been arranged in two groups for the present publication. The first group (BID-1) comprises printed and typescript reports and handbooks on wide-ranging subjects covering the period 1939-1967. Some of these were preserved for reference in the Aden Library (R/20/G) and some were kept on office files, either in the Aden Secretariat (R/20/B) or in local offices in the Protectorates, such as the Residency office at Mukalla (R/20/C). The second group (BID-2) comprises intelligence summaries collected from the entire region and forwarded to the Colonial Office and Cabinet in London. Copies were also preserved in Aden in several different and sometimes overlapping series. BID-1 Reports and handbooks, 1939-1967 BID-2 Intelligence Summaries, 1948-1967 Contents of the Reports and Handbooks The reports and handbooks offer a wide-ranging coverage of economic, political and social developments in southern Arabia, from the British attempts to gather information on the political situation in the north Yemen capital, San‘a, in the 1940s to the development of the oil industry in the Aden Protectorates in the 1950s and the consequent diplomatic disputes over unresolved boundary issues. Many of the reports include maps and photographs. Some highlights include: • A medical survey of the Western Aden Protectorate, 1939-1940 • Impressions of a visit to Yemen: report by W.H.Ingrams, August 1941, Most Secret • Political development in the Hadhramaut: printed paper by Harold Ingrams, April 1945 • Brief Notes on the history of the tribes now residing in the Eastern Aden Protectorate, and their present area and divisions, 1955 • General Handbook of the Aden Colony and Protectorate, Aden: Intelligence Branch, Headquarters, British Forces, January 1959 • Report on the fisheries of the Eastern Aden Protectorate, 1960 • Basic Paper on Boundary Problems in the Eastern Aden Protectorate, compiled by A.F.Watts, Mukalla, May 1962 • An Economic Survey of the South Arabian Federation, 1962 Contents of the Intelligence Summaries The intelligence summaries are detailed and regular (usually monthly) accounts of activities in Aden and the two Aden Protectorates from the 1940s onwards, as well as Local Intelligence Committee and Aden High Commission reports from the 1960s. Their contents are arranged under sub-headings which include sections on local tribal and state developments (for example, the Qu‘aiti State of Shihr and Mukalla) and sections on frontier areas, security forces and oil negotiations. In a wider political context they record the impact of international events (for example the 1956 Suez crisis) on local politics; and from the late 1950s onwards they examine and report in unique detail on the growing and increasingly radical independence movements, the National Liberation Front (NLF), the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY) and on labour relations in Aden and the Aden Trades Union Congress as well as on their relations with, and support from, other states in the region and internationally. Arrangement of the fiche and films Within the two groups the following information is provided for each item: Section 1, fiche- and film-number; print title; date and place of publication; security classification; number of pages; and OIOC reference number Section 2, fiche- and film-number, original file title and covering dates of intelligence summaries; OIOC reference number and number of folios. Penelope Tuson Former Curator of Middle East Archives, Oriental & India Office Collections, British Library |
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