THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 6 JANUARY 1976

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006014996
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: January 6, 1976

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The President's Daily Brief
January 6, 1976
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Top Secret
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of E.O. 11652
exemption category 5B( 11.(2),(3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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January 6, 1976
Table of Contents
Lebanon: Leftists are likely to start a new
round of fighting in response to Prime
Minister Karami's call yesterday for indefi-
nite postponement of parliamentary elections.
(Page 1)
Cuba-Angola:
USSR:
Notes: USSR-Morocco-Algeria; Syria; Thailand;
Nigeria (Pages 5 and 6)
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LEBANON
Lebanese Prime Minister Karami's
call yesterday for indefinite post-
ponement of parliamentary elections
is likely to prompt Lebanese leftists
to start a new round of fighting. The
far left stands to win a number of
seats in parliament if elections are
held on schedule between February and
April.
Beirut is relatively calm. Re-
newed clashes could easily be trig-
gered, however, by the numerous kid-
napings and efforts by the Christian
militias to search trucks bringing
food to the Palestinian refugee camps.
The timing of elections can be changed by the
president, prime minister, and parliament. Each
has an interest in delaying a vote because of the
continuing civil unrest and the growth of leftist
political power in Lebanon.
Karami's call may reflect a private under-
standing between old-line Muslim and Christian
leaders. Such Muslims as Karami and former prime
minister Saib Salam fear the loss of their seats to
radical leftists if elections are held soon.
The Christians fear that election of a more
radical and assertive parliament would jeopardize
the subsequent election by parliament of an ac-
ceptably conservative successor to President Fran-
jiyah. His term expires in September, and a presi-
dential election--unlike that of parliament--cannot
be constitutionally postponed.
The Christians may also calculate that ex-
tension of the tenure of the existing parliament
would allow them to delay concessions providing
for equal Christian and Muslim representation in
that body. Christians now have a six to five ma-
jority in the 99-member legislature.
(continued)
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Muslim and Palestinian leaders have reacted so
far with restraint to the Christians' rejection last
week of the Syrian-sponsored political reforms pro-
posed last month. The Muslims issued a low-key
statement condemning the Maronites but repeated
their own willingness to negotiate a settlement.
Muslim restraint probably results partly from
efforts of the Christian Phalanges Party to dis-
sociate itself from calls by ultraconservative
Christians for the partition of Lebanon into Chris-
tian and Muslim states.
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Kavanfi ,
CUBa
BARBADOS.;
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CUBA-ANGOLA
Libya on Sunday became the 18th member of the
Organization of African Unity formally recognizing
the government established by the Angolan Popular
Movement. The Qadhafi regime related its decision
to South African assistance to the Popular Move-
ment's rivals.
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T1 7-", lrt T T TT 7
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USSR
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Soviet Kresta ll-class guided missile cruiser
LISBON
PORTUGAL
Strait of GI Alboran
Basin
559042 1-76
NORTH
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Madeira Islands
(Pori)
u Canary Islands
(Spain)
RABAT
'Casablanca
Cape Rhi
EL AAIUN
ALGERIA (
SPANISH.
SAHARA
Guerai
0
NOUAKCHOTT
(
MAURITANIA
290
tatute Miles
4?0
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NOTES
A ?Soviet guided-missile cruiser has left the
Mediterranean for the Atlantic, apparently in re-
sponse to Morocco's seizure of a Soviet ship.
Rabat has announced that a Soviet ship was in-
tercepted off the coast of Spanish Sahara on Satur-
day and subsequently escorted to the port of Agadir.
Three Algerian officers and a quantity of arms re-
portedly were found aboard. The Moroccan news agency
asserted that the ship was bound for Spanish Sahara
to deliver arms to the Algerian-backed Polisario
Front.
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The report may in fact refer to a Soviet fishing
trawler that was escorted to Agadir on December 30.
Syria, hoping to obtain the broadest possible
backing, apparently is planning to support the adop-
tion of a low-key resolution when the UN Security
Council debates the Middle East problem next week.
the Palestine Liber-
ation Organization may push tor a resolution on the
Palestinian question much like those approved by the
General Assembly in 1974 and 1975. Although both
the Syrians and the PLO probably expect a US veto,
they hope that couching their demands in temperate
language will cause the US some embarrassment and
create further strains between Washington and Tel
Aviv.
(continued)
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The Thai government's announcement yesterday
that it would freeze rice prices "for the time be-
ing" defuses, at least temporarily, one potentially
serious political problem for the Khukrit cabinet.
Proposed increases in rice and sugar prices
had prompted a labor protest rally that reportedly
attracted some 10,000 persons. The prospect of
larger turnouts may have forced the government to
retreat from its decision to raise the prices on
January 15.
Nigeria's price hike of its high-quality oil
could add $130 million annually to the US oil im-
port bill.
On December 30, Lagos informed foreign oil
companies that as of January 1 the average cost of
Nigerian oil would increase by 40 cents per barrel.
This increase is in addition to the $1.20 raise en-
acted in October as part of the 10-percent hike de-
creed by OPEC. Lagos felt the hike was justified
for high-quality crudes because OPEC--at its Decem-
ber 20 meeting--had not adequately reduced prices
on lower quality oil, for which demand has fallen.
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To Secret
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