File 3300/1916 Pt 3 'Aden News-Letters: 1919-20' [‎376r] (107/633)

August lf2f anu cordially welcomed by the
Th« Political < fficfer # bod«iaa # to whom I tole^rawhud
for confimaticn, hat rant in two letter* he hae re«
oeirwd from Ahmed Fotini* the i heikh of Taif, According
to the latter 3 Italif^ie arrived at feiiokha in an Italian
*hiy on the 2nd beytember 1920 with a large quantity of
goods ana money and proceeded to Kais with the intwntion
\ of o^^^ing the money to the Imam* The Political Officer,
\ hodwida, says that there is no news of any force having
arrived, but thrrt the statement in regard to the 1< nding
o the 3 Italians has be^n corroborated by bheikh Cmar
lisjaji, a ho delda merchant* who brought the information
before the arrival of the letters from Lheikh Ahmed Fe-
tini, (rner irjaji said that according to his messenger
from Zabeed, the Italians arrived in a dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. from Assab
and not in a ship.
\ The motives of the Italians are said to be :•
1 he i oil s.ical C fiic«.r, odwiaa, has despatched a
special messenger to Hais to verify the statements.
1 have also received information of the intention
of the French from Jibuti to establish themselves at
Vocha ior trjde purposes* This ne^s lacks confirmation*
Captain Fasluddin writes* in his diary dated 7th
September If * that while dir cussing the events in <k sir
with the Idrisi he asked him about the aims and objects
of the Ahhwan forces in Asir and of the deputation that
arrived at habia* The Idrisi replied that Asir affairs
became specially complicated after the events in tuhail
(vide News letter dated 3t th July 192C) due to the trea
chery of Hasan bin Aidh on receipt of pecuniary assistance
(a) To help the Imtm against the Idriri and
thereby to establish their influence in the
trading purpojes* for which purpose they
are endeavouring to come to an agreem-nt
with the lman >
Akili.