NESA Center alum Fadhl Al-Maghafi authored a thesis titled “More Than Just a Boundary Dispute: The Regional Geopolitics of Saudi-Yemeni Relations” for the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

Abstract:

This thesis questions whether the territorial solution reached with the Jeddah Treaty of June 2000 can put an end to Saudi-Yemeni disputes. The aim is not to deny that instrument’s significance but to place the territorial relationship within the more wide-ranging context of Saudi-Yemeni relations as a whole. It pays particular attention to two themes anchored in Yemeni domestic politics – lingering notions of historic national territories and the enduring belief that Yemeni state territory has been lost. The boundary evolution process is scrutinised from its colonial legacy to the unequal power bases of regional relations in southern Arabia. It is argued that complex territorial aspects of Saudi-Yemeni relations can still pose a risk to regional stability today and that reaching agreement on a boundary has not and does not make necessarily for better neighbours. Hence the Saudi-Yemeni dilemma is (and always has been) more than just a boundary dispute.

The Jeddah treaty resolved a dispute that had been running for decades. Just to complicate things, the earlier Saudi-Yemeni territorial definition introduced by the 1934 Taif treaty was confirmed in the 2000 instrument. The territorial stipulations of 1934 had always been seen as unjust in Yemen. Yemeni President Saleh had himself described the 1934 arrangements in the 1990s as unjust and impossible to accept, “...the surrendering of Yemeni territories that were gained during an unbalanced conquest of war between Yemen and its stronger and wealthier neighbour”. Yet the Yemeni President’s role in the conclusion of the Jeddah treaty was central, Saleh clearly regarding it as one of his major achievements. Though he was widely complemented at the turn of the noughties as an enabler, criticism of the territorial outcome of June 2000 soon began to mount, even from those who had worked towards the agreement’s conclusion.

Read the full thesis

About the Author

Dr. Fadhl Al-Maghafi is a diplomat (Ambassador) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) Yemen. Dr. Al-Maghafi received his PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London.

About the Publisher

The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London is a public research university in London, England. Founded in 1916, SOAS is one of the world's leading institutions for the study of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

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