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for a more representative caretaker government to be established in South Arabia before independence should the United Nations call for this and for
this caretaker government to be able to amend the constitution if it
wished. We should also ensure that Aden itself was generously represented
in relation to its population both in the Council of Ministers of the new
state and in representative bodies. We must also reserve until independence those sovereign rights we now have in Aden which are essential
to the conduct of our withdrawal, the preservation of human rights, the
control of land and the preservation of the public service. He would
make it clear to the Federal Government that our consent to the proposed
constitutiton was dependent on these points being accepted: if they were
not willing to agree, he would propose to hold constitutional discussions
with them at the end of June or soon thereafter. The newly appointed High Commissioner (Sir Humphrey Trevelyan) was in full agreement with these
proposals and had stressed the importance of carrying them into effect
quickly; if the Committee agreed with them, he proposed that they should be
announced in Parliament in the following week in connection with the
Second Reading of the South Arabia Independence Bill. He would make
further proposals about South Arabia to the Committee at the next meeting
of the Committee.
In discussion there was general agreement with the proposals by the
Foreign Secretary. It would be important however to ensure that
arrangements for the franchise in Aden Colony were not such that a majority
of its residents were denied the vote, though difficulties would
inevitably arise in respect of that considerable proportion of them
who were inmigrants from the Yemen.
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The Committee
(1) Approved OPD(67) 43.
(2) Invited the Foreign Secretary to consider the extent
to which the resident population of Aden would receive the vote under the new franchise.
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