File 3300/1916 Pt 3 'Aden News-Letters: 1919-20' [‎617r] (588/633)

for tho i^aranik*/ Abua for purely defens ire purposes, 1 have
told the Officer Ce«raanding 9 Modelda 9 that our policy is to
discourage fighting*
10* Tho lna» appears to ho endeavouring to extend
his rule over tho Lower Yemen end tho Tiha&a by pacific moans
and propaganda* Vo have had no information an yet of his using
force against any of the tribes in these districts* Ho has
occupied Kataba on tho border of our proteetorate f but f in
trrt'
spite of constant rumours of a &eidi advance ever Dala ho
has so far abstained from interfering in any way with places
Inside our protectorate*
il 0 further north ho is mat by tho influence of
tho Idrisi # who has oocupiod 2 eidiya and tho surrounding
district* I am sending under a separate cover letters Vhich
)
tho Imam and Mahmud Hodim have addressed to tho 7
Munirs in tho Zeidiya district* Tho letters are strongly
antl*British and antl»ldrlsi f and their tenor is used by tho
Idrlsi t» assist hi* in justifying his own sdvanos southwards,
jg, I ••• ns objsction to ths Xdrisi extending his /
influence ss fur south so ttalif, hut I sa inprsosing on hie
cousin ayod Muutafs, who is now on s risit to Aden, tho undesi
rability of tho Idriai extending hie claims further pending
tho general ssttlomsnt of houndarioo which wo hare promised
to undertake, the activities of tho Ins* and tho Idrioi in
tho evacuated Turkish districts in tho Tlhama make it very
desirable that this settlement should no mads with - a i .-
delay as possible*
j* Meanwhile it it evident that tho departure of
the Turks has to some extent weakened the position of the Uxam
in the Zeidi dlstrdote, where many of the people have been
made dlsoentented bykle parsimony. A fight is reported between
Saleh bin Saleh el Tairi, Jheikh of Rada and one of the Imam's
mukadams who was collecting tithes in Juban and <a'wa.
A letter has been received from Syed Ahmed fehim
14*
•1 kibsi, formerly member of the Ottoman Parliament for the
, 0f n advocating the claims sf Ssf-sl-Isla* kshamrasd Mshsen,
Which