[citation needed] Protectorate treaties were signed with the other states of Upper Yafa in 1903, but Busi was excluded and remained independent.

[2] Although Busi was not allowed to enter into the British protectorate, the Sheikhs were still entitled to an annual visit to Aden.

[3] In August 1954, a request for a protectorate treaty by the Sheikh of Busi was forwarded by Tom Hickinbotham, the Governor of Aden, to Alan Lennox-Boyd, the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

[4] In A History of Modern Yemen (2000), Paul Dresch notes that this treaty was virtually identical to the ones Britain had signed with Busi's neighbours 50 years earlier.

[6][page needed][failed verification] The Busi country was a flat plain intersected by small valleys, the principal of which was the Wādī-ul-Ab'us.